Dark Resurrection
by mondas42
Summary: After the events of the Battle of Hogwarts, Voldemort is dead, but will Harry life now be peaceful? It seems not, as a new evil rises, threatening both the Muggle and Wizarding world once more.ON PERMANANT HIATUS due to lack of interest.
1. Chapter 1

**Harry Potter – Dark Resurrection.**

**Chapter One – Aftermath**

Hogwarts was in ruins. Only hours before one of the world's biggest magical battles had taken place and the fate of the world – both Muggle and Magical, was decided. The greatest threat known to man was gone – destroyed by his own madness and arrogance and the world was now safe. However this victory had come at a heavy price with so many witches and wizards were dead, and even more were injured. The list of the dead was growing alarmingly and so many were so very young. As well as the students and teachers, many of the injured or dead were the Deatheaters that had not fled or been captured. These wizards and witches were also been cared for by the healers but under heavy guard from the Aurors.

The castle had suffered greatly, one of the main towers had partially collapsed, and a few of the others had holes in the roof. There were holes in many of the outer walls and the viaduct had many gaps in its stone pillars. Of the massive oak doors to the main entrance, one lay on the floor of the outer courtyard, whilst the other was hanging on its hinges, evidence of the destruction rained by the giants as they fought. Inside the castle was just as bad with many glass windows broken and paintings destroyed. Classrooms had been destroyed and dormitories badly damaged. A few of the magical staircases had stopped working and this was making it difficult to search for the dead and injured.

The Great Hall was more or less intact and had become the base of operations for the aftermath. The Hall was full of healers drafted in from St Mungo's, rushing around trying to minister to the injured and moving the dead. Ministry officials were trying to bring some semblance of order to the chaos around but with little success. Teams of House Elves were roaming the castle repairing areas where they were able and removing paintings and doors that were beyond repair.

In one corner of the hall, Professor McGonagall stood with various teachers and Kingsley Shacklebolt. Professor McGonagall looked unusually dishevelled and battle worn but still maintained her stance of authority.

Kingsley also looked weary and dazed. He shifted uneasily on his feet trying to come to terms with the day's events. Always a man ready to organise he turned to Professor McGonagall.

"Minerva, as acting Minister of Magic, can I ask you to once more take temporary headship of this school until we can make the position permanent with the governors?" he asked in his deep voice.

Although still dazed, Professor McGonagall was in no position to refuse such a request. "Off course Minister. I would be honoured to." she said with pride. The rest of the teachers all nodded in approval. "We have a lot to do and it's going to take some time to repair the damage to the castle. I was going to suspend all classes until next September, but the school will remain open for the time been as many people have no where left to go. Hogwarts will always provide need to those who need it"

She looked around the hall as if for the first time, noting the chaos around her and the small group of teachers looking at her for guidance. She decided that it was time for some order to be brought to the castle.

"Could all the heads of house perform a role call and inspection of the damage to their areas and report back to me. You will need to liaise with the healers for the names of the injured and the dead. Hagrid! Could you please act as temporary head of Griffindor?"

Hagrid lumbered over with a look of total delight on his face.

"Oh! Professor, it would be a pleasure." Hagrid said with tears springing into his eyes.

Professor McGonagall smiled sadly to herself at the half giants obvious delight at been given his new role.

"Come on then, let's get going everyone, work to be done!"

She clapped her hands and the teachers all rushed off to do their tasks. Professor McGonagall was left with the Minister. She sighed and looked around the hall.

"What a mess, and such a cost!" she sighed

"Yes, but we finally won. The world is now free from Voldemort's shadow. It is now time to rebuild our lives and make things better. I promise you that I will work to make the Ministry something we can all be proud of and to ensure such a thing never happens again." Kingsley was well aware that Voldemorts forces had infiltrated the Ministry and he would have to work had to make sure all the sympathisers to his cause would be removed.

Professor McGonagall looked at the tall man next to her with pride. "You will make a good Minister, Kingsley. Let's hope the Wizengamot quickly make your post permanent."

Kingsley merely raised an eyebrow at this statement. They were silent for a while as they both considered the enormity of the work to do. A figure moving across the hall caught both there attention. As they both looked on they saw Harry Potter making his way slowly out of the Hall. Harry looked very lost and battered by the day's events.

"Someone will need to keep an eye on that boy. He has been through so much and if I know Harry, it will not be a smooth road to recovery. He will blame himself for all of this" Kingsley warned.

Professor McGonagall was about to go after him when she saw Ginny Weasley call after him. Even though she was wracked with grief at the loss of her brother, the look of love in her eyes was evident for all to see.

"Don't worry Minister. I think it's already in hand", she said with a small smile.

As Harry Potter wandered, dazed and tired, through the ruins of his beloved Hogwarts, he struggled to come to terms with what had happened.

No one seemed to notice Harry as he stumbled through the Hall towards the corridors outside. It was as if he was a ghost haunting the castle and no one could – or wanted to- see him. Harry looked a total mess with numerous scratches and cuts on his face and arms. More worryingly his shirt was soaked in blood from a deep wound on his chest where Voldemort's killing curse had hit him in the Forbidden Forest. Harry had died there, volunteering to give up his life to destroy the seventh Horcrux lodged within him. He felt tainted and ashamed by the fact he had carried a piece of Voldemort's soul for such a long time inside him. As Harry had walked to the forest he had not expected to live, and had said goodbye to all those he loved in his head - Ron and his family, Hermione but most all his beloved Ginny.

Somehow he had survived the killing curse for a second time, how he still wasn't entirely sure, but he remembered been carried by Hagrid through the forest back to the castle, and everyone thinking he was dead. The cry from Ginny when she saw his apparently lifeless body still tore at his already battered heart. Would she ever forgive him? How could everything be the same ever again? Because of him she had lost her brother Fred, indeed as he had looked around had seen her family gathered around Fred's body in the Great Hall.

The family were all locked in grief at the loss of one of their own. Ginny stood with her brothers and parents, Ron had his arm around Hermione who was crying on his shoulder. Mr and Mrs Weasley stood also arm in arm with the tears falling down both their faces. Ginny had looked up briefly and caught Harry's gaze. Ginny's eyes were red from crying but the look she gave Harry was one of loss and grief, but with an unspoken question in them. Harry had so wanted to run to her, to say how sorry he was at the mess had created, but he just couldn't. He was sure she would reject him, hating him for causing all…..this. So he turned and left with no real destination in mind. He was so tired that he needed to sleep, but he could not face people at the moment, so he needed to get out of there.

Harry stumbled over rubble and a few bodies as he left the Hall and began to wander the castle. Eventually his legs found their way towards the Griffindor common room. He had no knowledge of how he got there but as he got closer he realized that he didn't know the password needed to access the only real home he had ever known. However as he got closer he realized this was not going to be a problem. The portrait of the Fat Lady that guarded the door to the common room was in ruins, hanging off its hinges. Of the Fat Lady there was no sign, but the door behind had been blasted to splinters. Harry stepped through to the room beyond to discover it also showed signs of the ferocity of the battle; furniture lay in pieces, sofas overturned and ripped. Most of the widows had been blown in leaving shards of glass on the floor. There were pieces of parchment fluttering around the room in the wind from the open windows. He looked around aghast, the evidence of the disaster he had brought to the school was all around for him to see. Eventually he tore himself away and made his way slowly to his dorm. Surprisingly this was in fairly good shape with only the windows broken; the gold and red curtains flapping gently in the early summer breeze. He made his way to his four poster bed, where he had spent much of his life. Even though he hadn't spent any time at Hogwarts this year, the bed was exactly as he left it. He slowly removed his shoes and climbed onto the soft bed wincing in pain from the many wounds on his body.

Once he had laid down the dam of emotions he had been holding in finally broke. He cried and sobbed like a small child at all the death, horror and the loss he felt. All the deaths he had caused and all the suffering still to come, bubbled up from the bottom of his tormented soul. He wept for all the dead – Fred, Remus and Tonks, little Colin. He wept for Ginny and how she would hate him and never want to speak to him ever again. How long he wept he could not say but eventually exhaustion overcame him and he fell into a fitful sleep.

In a corner of the Great Hall three people stood practically ignored by all. Lucuis Malfoy, his wife Narcissa, and son Draco were unsure on what to do next. Lucius had a look of fury on his face as his arrogance reasserted itself, and was quietly arguing with his wife, Narcissa.

"Look at them all Narcissa, how dare they celebrate the downfall of the Dark Lord."

"Lucius, I hardly think they are celebrating, after all a lot of people died today", Narcissa replied sadly.

A lot had changed for Narcissa in the last few weeks. Her home had been violated and her beloved son placed in mortal danger. Before all this she had been one of the Dark Lords most loyal supporters, believing he was right that only Purebloods should be allowed access to magic, but now she wasn't so sure any more. After all the Dark Lord himself was destroyed by the son of a muggle born. Her own son had been placed in terrible danger and she herself had betrayed the Dark Lord on the floor of the Forbidden Forest when she lied to HIM about Potter been dead.

She listened to her husband ranting on about the purity of magic and the indignity of the defeat, seemingly oblivious to the fact that all three of them had more or less ran away during the final battle.

"How dare they ignore us? I will make them pay for this insult!" Lucius spat out as he realised that no one was paying him any attention.

Narcissa thought about how to reply for a long while, "Lucius, it's over! Haven't we suffered enough? I want to just pay for my crimes and then get on with our lives. If were very lucky we just may be able to keep Draco out of Azkaban"

This was the wrong this to say it turned out

"AZKABAN!, If you think I'm spending any more of my life in that place for faithfully serving the greatest wizard the world has ever seen then you are sadly mistaken" forgetting that he had ran out on the battle without firing a curse. "I'm leaving this place and you are coming with me. These muggle loving fools won't know what hit them when I'm finished with them! Come Narcissa!" he commanded.

Narcissa looked at him in pity, the last thing she wanted to do was go with him and live a life full of hate and loathing. She would throw herself on the mercy of the Wizengamot, and plead, not for herself for she knew nothing would keep her out of Azkaban prison, but for the liberty of the son, Draco.

"No" Narcissa replied softly

"NO? What do you mean no? You will come with me!" Lucius snarled.

"No" she hissed a second time. She was surprised that she no longer felt anything for the man stood before her. It hadn't been a happy marriage, but she stayed with husband from a feeling of loyalty. Deep down she wanted a happy loving husband, just like the man her sister Andromeda had found. As she thought about this, she suddenly felt sorrow for the loss her sister must be feeling, having lost her husband, daughter and her new son-in-law. Tears threatened to burst from her eyes as she was unaccustomed to these feelings.

"I am staying here! I've had enough of fighting and your bullying" and with a last look at him she turned and started to walk towards the few Aurors that were at the back of the room.

Lucius looked at her in disdain, "Foolish weak women. Very well. Draco, come along!"

Draco had watched the exchange between his mother and father with interest. He was not sure how he felt about the day's events. He knew he had supported the losing side and even during the time up to the final battle he was having second thoughts about the way events were happening. He remembered looking at Harry 'bloody' Potter lying on the floor of his home with his face suffering the effect of the stinging jinx. As Draco looked at Harry lying there, for a brief moment he wanted Harry to win, to end all this misery. Then to top it all Harry had saved his life from the Fiendfyre in the Room of Requirement. Why did he do that? He wouldn't have done so, or would he? He wasn't sure anymore. Draco looked first at his father, then at his mother walking away from them. He looked around the hall and at the injured and dead contained there. Slowly he came to a decision. This was not the life he wanted anymore.

"I'm sorry Father, but this is not how I wish to live my life. Goodbye" he said softly, and he turned and followed his mother.

Lucius looked furiously at the two of them. How dare they both betray him? They were no better than these Mudbloods and blood traitors. Something in his tired and confused mind seemed to snap and an evil smile crept to his lips. He slowly removed his wand from his sleeve. He narrowed his eyes at his wife and pointed the wand at her.

"_**AVEDA KEDAVRA!" **_

A narrow beam of green light flew out of the wand and struck Narcissa in the back. She glowed green briefly and fell, dead to the ground.

"MOTHER!" Draco screamed and ran towards his fallen mother.

At the sound of the commotion, all hell broke out as the Aurors ran towards Lucuis firing curses at him, which Lucius returned with vigour.

Draco knelt at the side of his fallen mother and embraced the body weeping. All the years of arrogance and bitterness finally released as he cradled his dead mother. As he knelt one of the Aurors ran to him to cover him from a further attack from Lucius.

Lucius tried to fire another killing curse this time aimed at his son, but he was blocked as the Auror shouted "_PROTEGO_" and threw up a shield around them causing the killing curse to bounce harmlessly away. Lucius tried to cast a few more killing curses but soon realised he was outnumbered, instead he ran quickly out of the hall to the small room where the Goblet of Fire had stood years earlier. Lucius moved to the large fireplace at the side of the room. Hoping that the wards were still down, he put his hand in his pocket and removed some floo powder, he threw it into the fireplace and quietly said "Malfoy Mansion", the fire turned emerald green and he vanished with a small whoosh.

The Aurors realized that they had lost their prey moved back to the main hall where they saw Draco still crying over his dead mother.

"Son, you'd better come with us" the head Auror, Gawain Robards, said softly to him. "We need to talk about your father"

Horace Slughorn had come over to Draco and his fallen mother. "Draco, go with them. I'll take care of your mother. Then I'll come for you."

Draco looked at Horace with confusion in his eyes. "Why did he have to do that?"

Horace couldn't answer that. He put his hand on Draco's shoulder who tensed at the contact. Draco suddenly stood up, the anger back in his grey eyes, and without a backwards glance, walked off with Robards.

Horace stood shaking his head, "That's not going to end well", he muttered to himself, and then bent to see to the dead Narcissa.

Ginny Weasley was confused and tired. She did not know how she should feel anymore, so much grief had been poured out of her at the death of her brother and friends. So now she could only feel numb and confused. She did not know what to do about her other problem -Harry. She wanted to go to him, but she also was furious with him for leaving her and letting her think he was dead earlier today. When she was with her family, looking after Fred she looked up and saw him, but did not know what to do.

One thing she was sure off was that she did love him; indeed she had loved him since she was little and her mother had read her stories of the famous Harry Potter – The boy that lived. When she was small she loved the story of the famous Harry, however that all changed in her first year at Hogwarts when he rescued her from the Chamber of Secrets. Then she fell in love with the real Harry, the boy who saved her life. She was so happy the day he finally noticed her as someone other than Ron's little sister and had kissed her in front of the whole of her housemates in the Griffindor common room. For a short beautiful time, life was perfect. But then he left her, breaking it off and leaving to go on some mission given to him by Dumbledore with Ron and Hermione. She had cried for days and it still hurt, but even with all that she still loved him. When she had seen Hagrid carry in his seemingly dead and limp body she thought her world had ended. When he seemed to come back from the dead her heart rejoiced that he was alive, but how could he do that to her? Why did he have to let everyone think he was dead?

She had seen him look at her as she stood over her brothers' body in silent vigil. She wanted to run to him, to smooth his ruffled hair and tell him it would be all alright, but before she had chance, he had turned and left the Hall. He looked so lost and hurt that it pained her to see him like that. She had wanted to follow him but the confusion following Lucius's murder of his wife meant that she couldn't leave the hall straight away. After things had calmed down she had spoken briefly to her father, who smiled a sad smile. Arthur Weasley bent down and gently kissed his only daughter on her head. "Go after him, he needs you", he had said to her. She's smiled a grateful smile, and after one last look at Fred, she had left in search of Harry.

Ginny wandered around the castle looking for Harry unsure of where he may have gone. Eventually she came to the Griffindor common room, and saw the same battered entrance way. She stepped into the mess that was the common room but unsurprisingly he wasn't there . Glancing around she knew where to look, the only place she thought he would go. She slowly made her way up to the boys 7th year dormitory and gently let herself in. What she saw made her heart almost stop; there he was curled up in a foetal position on his bed. Blooded and bruised and very thin but still Harry. She slowly walked over to him, his shirt was coved in blood and grime and he was sleeping but not peacefully. He kept whimpering and his face was contorted into a grimace as nightmares plagued his slumber. Ginny righted a nearby stool, sat down next to him

"Harry, it's going to be alright", she whispered and took his hand. She gasped at the near electric shock at the touch, but almost immediately Harry's torments died down and his face took on a more peaceful look about it. His breathing slowed and finally he looked at peace. She gazed at his battered face and gently kissed his cheek.

"I love you", she whispered to him. She climbed onto the bed beside him, all the while still holding his hand, and gently held him. For the first time is long while, Ginny felt safe next to Harry, she knew that eventually everything would be okay.

After a while she felt her eyes grow heavy as the day's events caught up with her, and she also fell asleep, her head rested on the right side of his chest.

Ron and Hermione had stayed with his family, all surrounding Fred until one of the Healers had told them they were going to move his body to St Mungo's where it would be held until they could arrange Fred's funeral. George had refused to leave Fred and wanted to go with him to St Mungos. Percy had surprisingly volunteered to accompany George to St Mungos and then bring him back when he was ready. As the evening darkened, Mrs Weasley had begun to worry about the whereabouts of Harry and Ginny. Arthur had mentioned to her that he had let Ginny go look for Harry earlier as Harry looked like he need some help.

Professor McGonagall had set up a temporary dormitory for families and students who remained in the castle in the relatively untouched area near the Hufflepuff common room down in the basement. Mr and Mrs Weasley had decided to get some rest but Molly had asked Ron and Hermione to go look for Harry and Ginny.

"Where are they?" Ron grumbled

"Ron, how should I know? You were supposed to keep an eye on him", Hermione snapped.

They eventually came to the landing where the Gryffindor common room was. A pair of house elves were removing the ruined picture frame that covered the remains of the door. They had seen a number of House Elves as they had wandered the castles long corridors, all busy repairing damaged pictures or artefacts where they could with their own brand of magic; or removing items that were beyond repair. They both entered the common room, "Bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed as he took in the scene beyond the door, "This is going to take a bit of clearing up!"

Hermione nodded in agreement, tears starting to form in her eyes as she looked at the devastation. Idly she picked up and righted a small table, picking up a short scroll of someone's hastily abandoned homework in the process.

"Well they are not here" she said, "Let's try the dorm"

They walked up the stairs to the 7th year dorm. Hermione walked in first stopping suddenly at the sight that greeted her.

"Ron! "She whispered, "Look at that"

Ron poked his head through the door, but before he could stop himself he snarled, "What's he doing with my sister? The git!"

"Nothing you fool, there both asleep. Stop acting like such a prat. Come on, let's leave them to sleep"

They backed out and went back to the common room to wait. Between them they righted the sofa in front of the fire. Hermione removed the glass from around the centre of the room, whilst Ron pointed his wand at the fire place and whispered "_Incendio_". With a pop, the fire burst into life. They both settled down on the sofa, Hermione cuddling up to Ron, and they sat, waiting for their friends to wake.

"Do you think he will be okay? You saw the way he looked earlier today. I've seen that look on Harry's face before and it doesn't bode well", she asked him.

"I'm not sure Hermione, but we will be there for him when he wakes up, as will Ginny." Ron took a deep breath and finally summons the courage to say what he now knows to be true.

"You know she loves him don't you?", his earlier outburst already forgotten

Hermione looked at Ron in amazement. "Yes I did, but I'm surprised you're as cool about it as you are."

"Well I'm not over the moon about it if that's what you mean, but..well he's my best friend and if anyone is going to be with Ginny then I'd rather it be him and someone needs to look out for Harry. If I know Harry he will be blaming himself for Fr-Fred's death." Ron took a deep breath, the tears threatening to flow again. "My brother died for something that he believed in, and Harry had nothing to do with his death but he will blame himself for his death and that of the others. If we hadn't of been here when we were, it would of happened another time in another place. At least now that bastard cannot hurt anyone else! Ginny will look after him, but if he bloody well hurts her again, I'll sodding well kill him", Ron said, sounding a little more like the Ron of old, however even as he said this he knew in his heart that Harry would never leave Ginny again. Even though both Hermione and Harry didn't think he noticed, Ron remembered watching Harry as he looked at the marauders map all those hours in the tent, and Ron was pretty certain that it was only one person he was keeping an eye on.

"Ron", Hermione exclaimed in delight at Ron's maturity, "You have changed. I'm so glad you are Harry's friend"

Ron started to blush, unused to compliments from Hermione. "Err thanks." Ron looked at the woman he had finally admitted that he loved sat with him "You all right?"

Hermione looked up at him and as she did fresh tears formed in her eyes, the brief happy moment a few seconds ago forgotten.

"Hey now, come on love. It's going to be okay you'll see." Ron put his hand to Hermione's face and wiped away the tears, however more formed quickly behind them.

"Ron, will it? I mean so many people hurt and then there's Remus and Tonks...and F-F-Fred, and little Colin. So many people dead..." she tailed off as fresh sobs overtook her.

Ron looked at her and wrapped his arms around her as she shook with her sobs. To be honest he thought he may join her as he thought about his brother. As they sat, holding each other, they comforted themselves as best as possible whilst they sat vigil for the friend. Ron just hoped that when Harry awoke, Ginny would be able to get through to him.

Elsewhere in the castle, Luna Lovegood was humming quietly to herself. She was sat on some rubble outside the main entrance where the final battle had taken place, trying to keep out of the way. Many people had asked her to go to her dorm and get some sleep but she didn't want to sleep at the moment. As she sat, she happened to look toward a body that had been left. Most had been removed from here but none seemed to of touched this one. As she looked she realised that it was his – Voldemort's. No one had seemed to know what to do with it and it had just been left. As she sat and looked, a dark red mist seemed to coalesce around the body. It seemed to hug the shape of his broken frame and to her astonishment it gently faded away, taking the body with it. Luna thought about telling someone about the strange event she had just witnessed, but after a while she just muttered

"Must be the Nargles" she muttered, and went back to humming to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two – "We need to talk."**

The sun was low in the sky and the day was moving to a close. Most of the castle was quiet; even the healers in the hospital wing and the few left in the hall were having a short rest. All the dead had been moved to a place of rest. The injured had either been healed and discharged, or moved to the hospital wing. The few critical patients had been taken to St Mungo's for more serious treatment.

In the Gryffindor 7th Year dorm, Harry was dreaming. His dreams earlier had been nightmares. In his dreams he couldn't move, and all he could see was a pair of red eyes looking at him with hatred. He could hear an eerie high pitched laugh that taunted him, and speaking words that Harry couldn't understand but knew that they were not friendly. He saw visions of the deaths of his friends and family, played over and over again. However during this sleeping torture, he suddenly felt a new presence. This was a warm happy presence and he suddenly could smell a sweet flowery smell. In his dreams he seemed to hear someone talk to him "_Harry, it's going to be alright"_. He felt someone take his hand, "_I love you"_. The dream dissolved and broke away and Harry found himself at peace and his dreams took on a more pleasant tone, mainly involving a brown eyed redhead.

As the setting sun entered the room, Harry slowly opened his eyes. He must of slept all night and most of the day. It took him a while to take in his surroundings looking around the room, before he noticed the slim redhead that lay next to him. Ginny had curled up against him, with her hand still holding his. He watched her for a moment, the steady rise and fall of her chest as she slept. She looked perfect; he had to be dreaming still. What was she doing here? How did she get here? He was sure she still must hate him for all he had done to her, but here she was sleeping next to him. Merlin! How he loved her.

As he thought about all that had happened, tears once again formed in his eyes. He tried to move away from her in order to hide his tears, but he gasped in pain as his battered body resisted. A sharp pain in his chest competed for his attention along with the rest of his muscles. He cried out in pain as his chest injury won that particular battle. He quickly looked down under his shirt and saw that the wound was still bleeding slightly, but had now taken a nasty green hue to it. As he looked, he realised he had woken Ginny, who was looking at him with a worried expression on her face.

"Hello you", he said softly, "I must admit to been surprised to see you here."

"Harry, are you alright? You look like you're in pain"

"It will be fine." Harry didn't want to talk about his injuries at the moment. He felt that he deserved the pain for all he had done. "Oh Ginny, I'm so sorry. You must hate me!"

"Harry James Potter! what rubbish are you talking now? Of course I don't hate you, and no one else in my family does either." She snapped in exasperation, although she was not surprised to hear him say these things. He was so dam noble that she knew he was going to blame himself. It was time to nip this in the bud before it grew out of control.

"I think it's time Harry. We need to talk!" She looked him in the eyes, brown meeting green.

Harry sighed. He knew that this time had been coming and Ginny deserved an explanation. He only hoped that after he told her what he had done, and that he had been a Horcrux for most of his life, she would still want to talk to him.

"Ok Ginny, but I'm sure you will not want to talk to me after I've finished", he said dejectedly.

"Why are you saying these things? What happened to you Harry?"

Harry looked at her for a long time through tear soaked eyes. "Ok, you deserve to know what happened."

Slowly he started to tell her what had happened after the Death Eaters had attacked the Burrow during Bill and Fleurs wedding. He told her about the Horcrux's and the task that Professor Dumbledore had left him. When he told her how Tom had created the Horcrux's he thought she was going to vomit. He grasped her hand whilst she recovered and then continued his story. She was shocked that she had been in possession of one of the Horcrux's in the form of Tom Riddles diary, and how Harry had destroyed in with the Basilisk fang. He went on to tell her about the search for Salazar Slytherin's Locket and how Ron had left them. Ginny swore at this point, but Harry assured her that it was the influence of the evil contained within the locket that had affected him, and how he had destroyed it himself once he had found them again and how he had saved Harry's life. He told her about the search for the remaining Horcrux's and the long hours they would spend in the tent avoiding the Snatchers. She smiled to herself when he told her about watching her dot on the Marauders Map to see that she as safe. When Harry told her about the trip to Godric's Hollow to see his parents graves and to speak to Bathilda Bagshot but been attacked by Nagini, she looked at him in horror.

He then spoke about Hermione been tortured at Malfoy Manor, and how Ron had desperately tried to save her form Bellatrix. He told her how Dobby had rescued then and taken them to Shell cottage and where Ron had comforted her. At this piece of information Ginny just smiled a knowing smile and muttered "About time!" She cried when he told her about how Dobby had died rescuing them from Malfoy Manor, but said nothing more until he started to tell her about more recent events. He told her about the death of Snape and how he gave Harry his memories where he learnt of the existence of the seventh Horcrux. He told her of his walk to the Forbidden Forest once he realised what he had to do, and standing there and letting Voldemort kill him. However he did not mention the existence of the Deathly Hallows or that he was master of them. This was one piece of information that he would take to the grave.

"Oh Harry! You were going to let yourself die?"

"I had to. I'd just found out that I was the seventh Horcrux. If Voldemort was to die and all this madness was to end, I had to die" he said, hardly noticing the tears that were streaming down his face, and dripping onto the floor.

"W. didn't you say anything to me?" Ginny sobbed

"I couldn't. I watched you looking after that little girl, and it was the hardest thing I'd ever done to carry on walking. If I'd spoken to you, even only a few words, I would have not been able to go. Don't you see? I had to go. I had to die in order to get rid of the evil bit of his soul lodged in my head. If I hadn't of done it then he would of won and we'd all be dead. But I came back... I came back for you", he whispered the last sentence.

Ginny's eyes filled up once more at his words. "When Hagrid carried you out of the forest and HE said you were dead, I wanted to die as well. I didn't think I could face life without you. I didn't care if I lived or died at that point, but then you were alive again and you killed Vol..Voldemort. When I saw you get up and run I was so mad at you for making me feel that way"

"I'm so sorry for that Ginny. I had to wait until Neville had killed Nagini or all was lost. I know you must hate me for this; and for Fred dying...and all the others, Colin, Remus and Tonks"

"Harry, don't you DARE. I was mad at you yes! But to hate you? Never! I have loved you since I was ten years old and I first saw you on platform 9¾ asking for help on how to get onto the platform. You looked so sweet and helpless, but then I got to know you and I really fell in love with you. And don't you dare blame yourself for Fred's death. It was that bastard who was responsible for his death and all the others, not you", she had taken Harry's face in her hands as she spoke and was looking intently into his emerald eyes. Tears were rolling down her face, but she seemed not to even notice them.

Harry looked at her in wonder. Could she really still love him? Was this possible, could he still have a future with her?

"Ginny, all those people died because I brought the battle to the school. If I'd stayed away then..."

"THEN WHAT?" she shrieked at him in frustration. "Then what? The battle would have only taken place somewhere else, and at some other time. People would still have died. You didn't cause the battle; you only played your part in it and rid the world of the most evil wizard the world has ever seen. If it wasn't for you a lot more people would be dead, probably me included. Don't you see, you saved us all!"

Harry looked at her in astonishment. Inside his head something seemed to click and he suddenly saw the truth. He didn't kill at those people. Sure, some may blame him at first but after a while they would realise that Voldemort and his followers were responsible.

As he thought about it, things suddenly made sense for the first time ever. He didn't kill them, he wasn't to blame for the deaths, she had saved him again. As he thought about it he felt his scar hurt, no not hurt, that wasn't right, it more itched as if it trying to move, trying to remove itself from him. However he couldn't deal with that right now, He had to tell the woman in front of him how he felt. It was now or never.

"Ginny, you are so right! Thank you. Iloveyou!" he rushed the last sentence fearful that he would lose the courage to say the words he had been longing to say to her for a very long time.

Ginny gaped at him. He loved her? The words she had wanted him to say since forever had just passed his lips. "You love me?"

"Yes Ginny, I love you, and I always will", he said more bravely this time.

He reached up to her and gently kissed her lips. Ginny felt herself fall into the kiss and she felt it intensify. She responded with a passion she didn't know was possible. After a while they broke apart and looked deep into each other's eyes.

Harry opened his mouth to speak, when a strange look passed his face. He scrunched his features in agony, his hand going to his scar. He suddenly stood up clutching his scar, panic and pain showing in his eyes. He cried out once, and then fell back as if someone had just cut the strings of a puppet. As Ginny watched in horror, Harry started to fit violently. Ginny ran to him "HARRY, Harry what's the matter?"

Harry could not answer her, his eyes were wide and unseeing and he continued to fit.

"HELP!" Ginny yelled, "IS ANYONE THERE, I NEED HELP NOW!"

In the common room, the fire had died out. Ron was laid on the couch with Hermione cuddled up to him. They were both fast asleep, but even in their sleep they had held each other's hand all night. They had spent a lot of time last night talking about the events of the day. Hermione had cried when they spoke about the people they had lost. Ron had comforted her as best as he could, he still could not get over the fact that they were together, and was feeling guilty about been happy about that. Eventually Hermione had stopped crying and they had settled down in each other's arms until they had fallen asleep. They had awoken the following morning and sought out some food and spoken briefly to his parents, before returning to maintain their vigil in the common room.

They had both dropped off again when Ron was awoken by Ginny's cries for help. His eyes snapped open, and he leapt to his feet, dumping Hermione in an untidy heap at his feet. She awoke with a cry, but as she heard Ginny's cries she also jumped up; wand springing to her hand. The months on the run had honed both of their reflexes and all sign of the children they once were had been replaced with the reflexes of warriors.

"Ginny!" Ron shouted, and leapt up the stairs to the dorm. He flung the door open and stared at the scene before him.

"Ron! Help me. I can't get him to stop fitting." Ginny was in tears as she tried to hold Harry still. He was still violently thrashing around and was now making odd grunting sounds. He was sweating profusely and his face had taken an unhealthy blue colour.

Hermione had made it into the room and her hands were over her mouth as she looked at the man she thought of as her brother so ill. "He needs to get to the hospital wing. Ron, go get Professor McGonagall!"

"No time Hermione!" Ron shouted. He walked over to Ginny and Harry. "Give him to me", he said to Ginny softly. Ginny looked into her brothers eyes, "Help him Ron" she pleaded, "I love him".

Ron looked back at her. His years of looking out for Ginny, and disapproving of her gits of boyfriends finally faded away as he accepted that this young woman loved his best friend. What had started earlier for Ron was now complete and he knew that these two would be together, if only they would both survive.

"I know" was all he said. By this time, Harry's fitting had begun to subside, but the grunting had become louder as he struggled to breath. He was getting bluer by the moment. He picked Harry up easily. He was shocked at how little his friend weighed, all the months on the run with poor food had taken its toll on Harry. Ron shifted Harry around in his arms to make him more secure, and then walked quickly to the stairs. He bounded down them, and was out of the common room and on his way to the hospital wing at a fast jog. Ginny and Hermione ran to keep up with Ron. As they ran down to stairs they passed the Great Hall on the way to the hospital wing. As he ran they encountered the rest of the Weasleys as they were on the way to the hall for the evening meal.

"Ron! What's happening? "Molly Weasley shouted, as they flew past them. Ron didn't answer; he just kept running with his best mate in his arms.

"It's Harry!"Ginny sobbed, "He collapsed in my arms"

They rest of the Weasleys looked on in worry and followed the small group to the hospital wing. As Ron got to the door to the hospital wing, he raised one foot and kicked the door open with a loud bang. Inside the infirmary Madam Pomfrey jumped around at the noise.

"Ronald Weasley! What is the meaning of this?"

She then spotted that Ron was carrying a very unwell looking Harry Potter and immediately her demeanour changed. "Merlin! Quickly over here Ron. Put him down here"

Ron carried Harry to a spare bed, and gently placed him down. As he did so Madam Pomfrey started to run her wand over Harry. As she did so her face whitened. The Weasleys and Hermione had all crowded around the bed; Ginny was holding Harry's limp hand with a look of fear in her moist eyes.

"All of you, I need you to wait outside now. I need to work" Madam Pomfrey stated. When no one moved she yelled "NOW!" At that, everyone moved away except Ginny. "Miss Weasley, I need you to leave too please".

"Madam Pomfrey, I'm staying, I am not letting Harry out of my sight", Ginny declared.

"MISS WEASLEY! I need you to go NOW"

Arthur took hold of his daughter, "Come on love, let Poppy work. I'm sure he will be fine"

Arthur managed to move Ginny away, and the family moved away from the bed,

"You may wait outside!" Madam Pomfrey ordered in a tone that left no room for negotiation.

They all reluctantly moved towards the door, Ginny still looking at Harry as she was half dragged away by her father.

Once Madam Pomfrey had removed the family, she more frantically started casting spells on Harry. She didn't like what she was finding.

"Healer Dravin! I need help NOW!" she cried. As Healer Dravin rushed over, she removed his blood soaked T-Shirt, to reveal the open wound on his chest. Poppy tried a wound sealing spell; the wound closed briefly, but then with a small pop, reopened causing fresh blood to pour out. "Shit!" Madam Pomfrey swore.

"Madam Pomfrey, what is the matter?"

"It's Harry Potter, Chris. Look at this wound. My usual spells are not working and I'm afraid I'm losing him"

Christoff Dravin was a young man who had risen quickly through the ranks of healers due to his great talent for healing. Despite all this the young blonde haired man was a humble sort who always made time for his patients. Poppy had always rather liked the healer, looking on him as almost the son she never had. Chris cast his wand over Harry now limp body.

"He's not breathing Poppy!" He tried a breathing charm on Harry. Harry took in a breath, exhaled and stopped again. He tried a more powerful spell, but once again it failed. Healer Dravin looked at Poppy, with panic in his eyes. "It's not working Poppy!"

"Here let me try something, I've seen Muggle healers do this" Poppy cried. She went to Harry head, tilted his head back and whilst pinching his nose, she breathed into his mouth. Harry's chest rose and fell as she breathed.

"Again!" Christoff shouted

Once again Poppy breathed, this time Harry chest barely rose. "Again Poppy, again!"

Between them, Poppy breathing into his mouth, and Christoff casting breathing spells, they managed for a few minutes to keep Harry's chest rising and falling. After a while, Poppy pealed back one of his eye lids and looked into Harry's unseeing eyes. "Oh no" she breathed.

"Stop Poppy, let me see", Christoff cast a diagnosis spell over Harry's body. As he read the result, his head dropped. After a while, he looked up at Poppy Pomfrey.

"I'm so sorry Poppy, He's gone. Harry Potter is dead!"

From across the room, there was a heartbroken cry

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 – Dark and light**

The large ornate fireplace in the main dining room at Malfoy Manor flared green and Lucuis Malfoy arrived at Malfoy Manor in an absolute rage. As he stepped from the floo, wand drawn, he blasted a few chairs into splinters just to try to release some of his anger. How dare his wife and son betray him and the Dark Lord? She got what she deserved, didn't she? He would show the muggle loving fools how a true pure blood wizard behaves. As he raged he blasted a few more chairs and other inoffensive items of furniture. Finally his anger began to wane and to be honest he was running out of chairs. As the rage left him he slumped down to the floor, his thoughts turning to his wife and a look of horror and loathing formed on his face.

"Oh Narcissa, how could I?" he cried "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it. Come back to me!" he cried as the tears started to fall from his eyes. He laid on the floor and beat the ground with his fists. As he wept for his wife an odd gleam grew in his eyes. If he was more coherent he would have remembered seeing that look before in some of the patients in St Mungo's when he used to visit as a patron. Patients in the ward for the insane had the same look in their eyes, but Lucius never used to pay much attention, more keen on the glory afforded to him as a generous patron. As Lucius's sanity began to ebb away, he began to laugh. "Oh how she glowed green, she always did like green" he cackled. He laughed until the tears ran down his eyes. Suddenly he stood and straightened himself. His face and eyes cleared and seemed once more in control of himself.

"Draco!" he shouted. He then remembered that his son had also betrayed him and once again the rage took him and some more of the Malfoy furniture took the brunt of his wrath. His eyes taking on the mad gleam once more as his wand did its work. Shortly however his rage subsided once more and he fell into the one chair left standing. He covered his face for a while, and when he looked up his eyes had cleared a little. However there was still a little glint in them that spoke of madness.

As he looked around the room, he took in his surroundings. The recent times had not been kind to his ancestral home, apart from the devastation he had created in his fit of rage; the Death Eaters had left in a hurry when they travelled to Hogwarts, leaving a mess behind. Death Eater masks and cloaks were left on the main table as their owners tried to find the time to fit them before leaving for the school, but failed. There were the remnants of a few bodies behind that Nagini had not been able to devour fully. As Lucius sat and looked around he gazed at the bodies, an idea began to form in his mind.

Lucius, apart from been a loyal Death Eater, had also been a scholar, and a good one at that. He had spent many of his formative years in study of the Dark Arts, his families' fortune sustaining him and allowing the time needed for such endeavours. During his many years of study he had taken the time not only to study the dark magic of the modern world, but also the forgotten dark magic from the ancient world, mainly the ancient Egyptians. It was during these ancient times that it was thought the first witches and wizards were born. These first magical people, rather than hiding away from the majority of the population as happened today, flaunted their magic and used it to gain enormous wealth and power. Indeed it was widely believed that these first wizards and witches gave rise to the names of the ancient gods and goddess such as Set, Ra, Horus and Anubis. It was during these studies that Lucius came across some interesting scrolls about something called "The Book of the Dead". The muggle historians foolishly thought that this was simply a book about the burial rites concerning the process involved in caring for the dead kings of Egypt. Indeed many so called "books of the Dead" had been discovered in the tombs of the ancient Pharaohs, but Lucuis knew that there was only one true Book and he thought he knew where it was located and what powers it contained.

As he sat and thought the idea grew and a smile formed on his face. "It could work and I would have the power to destroy all those filthy Mudbloods and Blood Traitors. I will show them", he whispered to himself

He would need to act fast though as the Aurors would be coming to Malfoy Manor soon as it was an obvious place for him to go to. He sprang up from his chair, and ran to his study. He waved his wand in a very specific way, and then pressed his palm against a brick that had glowed green. The wall seemed to melt away to reveal the secret room he used to keep his most sacred dark objects. Not even the Dark Lord himself had found this room.

As he entered the room, Lucius passed a mirror on the wall, and looked at himself. With his long flowing blonde hair he would be too recognisable. He grabbed a nearby dagger and roughly hacked his hair to pieces. He then used his wand to break his own nose, and give himself a long scar that ran across his cheek. When he had finished he looked at the mirror once more. No longer was the face the once handsome one it had once been, but an almost bald headed creature looked back at him. He had the odd clump of hair attached in seemingly random areas, he had used his wand to colour the hair to a dull brown colour. He then used his wand to make his facial hair grow to a short scruffy beard, again coloured the same dull brown.

He smiled at the refection, a mad smile with no warmth behind it at all. "That's better!" he muttered. He then picked up a small bag and began to gather a number of small items and ancient scrolls for various locations in the room, talking to himself all the while.

After a short while he had amassed a large collection of items and scrolls, which he put into the bag, the bag seemingly to hold more than was possible for its size. His task completed he was about to return to the study to apparate away from the Manor when a malevolent smile crossed his lips. If he couldn't have his ancestral home then he would make sure no one else did either. He went back out to the entrance hall, and waved his wand "_FRAGOR MORAM_!" he shouted.

"Ha, that will surprise them." With one last look around his home for he knew he would never return, he turned and disapparated away.

It was about an hour later that a team of Aurors apparated on the drive-way to the Manor. Cautiously they made their way to the main entrance way. The small team had been sent by Auror Robards to apprehend Malfoy and bring him to the Ministry for interrogation or to kill him if needed. There were six Aurors on the team as there was only one man to bring in and this was thought to be plenty for the task.

As the team walked to the main entrance door the Auror in charge, Sheldon Townsend put up his hand to indicate that the team should stop. He walked slowly towards the door, all the while listening for any signs of trouble.

"_Homenum Revelio_", whispered Sheldon, whilst pointing his wand at the building. As he saw the results of the spell he summoned the four remaining members of his team.

"It seems that no one is around, but let's be sure. He could be concealing himself from us." He tried the main door, but to no one's surprise it would not open.

He waved his wand, "_Alohomora_!"

The door clicked and gently swung open.

"That was too easy." one of the Aurors said. His colleagues nodded.

"Be on your guard", Sheldon warned.

They slowly crept into the house. "Spread out and search but if you find him, do not engage. Call for back-up. This scumbag is dangerous"

The Aurors all entered the main house, and slowly started to search the house for Lucius. Sheldon and his partner, a small petite Auror called Cynthia entered the main dining room and looked in disgust at the remains of the dead bodies strewn around. They could see the recent signs of Lucius's anger as some of the chairs were still smoking from there battering. Sheldon indicated to Cynthia to be quite as he walked to the study. As he passed the threshold of the study a bright orange flash could be seen in the main hall and a disembodied voice called out "_Thus pays all those who oppose the Dark Lord"_. After a few seconds Sheldon realised something was wrong, very wrong. Both he and Cynthia looked at each other and as one ran towards the main entrance with Sheldon calling out to his team, "EVERY ONE OUT NOW! IT'S A TR..."

He never finished his warning as the delayed explosive curse hit. There was a loud detonation and then the entire Manor exploded. The devastation was total and even the muggles in the next village heard and saw the flames. Of Sheldon and his team nothing was ever found.

Lucius appeared in a large ornate room in a beautiful cottage. The cottage was in a small valley in South Wales and the Malfoy's used this cottage as there summer retreat. No one knew that the Malfoy's owned this cottage; it was concealed and was under a disillusionment charm that meant it looked like the old ruins of a labours cottage from the outside. Only members of the Malfoy family could apparate here, anyone else who tried would find themselves fatally splinched.

Lucius moved to the main sitting room and went over to the large bookcase on the back wall. Staring at the books he finally found the one he was looking for and tapped it three times with his wand. The book case silently slid to one side revealing a dark set of stairs leading down. Lucius used his wand to light the way as he descended to the large open cellar of the cottage. Here he lit a number of large black candles and moved to the rough desk set up against one of the walls. He opened his bag and pulled out an old parchment. He read the incantation to himself and then knelt down on the floor. He slowly started to recite the incantation, whilst waving his wand in a very deliberate pattern. Sweat broke out on his forehead with the effort of such a complex spell. Red mist began to pour out of his wand and slowly disappeared. As he continued to speak the incantation his eyes took on a red glow. Slowly the red mist began to form again in front of him, this time taking the form of a body. As the mist began to coalesce and dissolve the body of Tom Riddle - Lord Voldemort, was left behind.

Lucius fell forward in exhaustion. After a short while he looked up with a smile of triumph on his face. This didn't last long as he realised the hardest part was still to come. He had to preserve the body until he was ready to proceed with his plan. He stood up and went over to a small sink and splashed cold water on his face to revive himself. Taking an old beaker he also took a long drink of water. He stood there for short while recovering from his trials before straightening and once more taking out his wand. He moved back towards the Dark Lords broken body.

"Soon my Lord, you will have your revenge." He straightened the body with an almost reverential touch and sat back to perform the hardest spell he knew of. This spell he had learnt from his trips as a young man when he had toured Egypt and visited the magical community there.

The spell was very simple but required a lot of magical ability to perform.

"_**CONGELASCO TEMPUS!" **_he shouted.

A blue light shot from his wand and enveloped the body. The light seemed to sink into the body and then hardened. When the light faded the body was left as it was before, but this time it was left frozen in time. All decay had stopped and the body perfectly preserved.

"Now let it begin!"Lucius whispered.

Harry slowly opened his eyes. Once again he was lying on a smooth light floor; it felt neither warm nor cold, but just there. As he looked around he saw he was in a large open space that was very bright and clean. Now Harry knew where he was instantly and as he stood up he saw he was in the Kings Cross Station from when he had spoken to Professor Dumbledore when he 'died' in the Forbidden Forest. Once again he looked down and saw that he was naked, but this time he knew what to do. He wished he was clothed and sure enough, robes appeared next to him. He quickly dressed and looked around curiously. This time he could not see the stunted creature that had been there before, but unlike before, the station seemed to be almost populated. He could see shadows of people walking around, but any detail was lost to him, as if the people were almost there but not quite. There was also a low murmur of conversation; just on the edge of hearing, but again Harry could not make out any specific words.

Harry slowly walked towards the platforms thinking he knew what would happen next, "Professor! Professor Dumbledore! Hello, where are you", he called

"Sorry to disappoint you Harry, but it's not him this time!" a familiar voice called. Harry froze, his eyes opening wide at the sound of the voice he thought he would never hear again. He slowly turned towards the voice.

"Fred? Is that you?"

"Sure is my boy. It's good to see you again Harry." Fred answered with a grin. He was sat on one of the white seats, looking exactly as he had in life. A wide mischievous grin plastered on his face. As Harry looked at him a horrible thought occurred to him. If Fred was here and not Dumbledore did that mean...

"Does this mean I really am dead, or is it like last time and I'm going to go back?"

"Nope, sorry mate but this time you really are dead!" Fred answered solemnly

A look of horror crept on Harry's face. "Oh no... Ginny!"

Fred looked at him for a few seconds and then burst into laughter "Sorry Harry, I couldn't resist. You should see the look on your face! Off course you're not dead, well you are, sorta... but not permanently. It's kinda confusing. We just need to talk and I've been nominated as spokesperson"

"Fred, you git!"

"Sorry Harry", Fred stated, not looking sorry at all, but looking rather pleased with the prank. "You know me, can't resist a joke. But I've been given some really important information that you will need to know."

"If this information is so important, then why you?" Harry asked with a small smile

Fred looked hurt at this, but then noticed Harry smiling as he said it. "Ok, good one Harry. I'd like to say it's because of my great intelligence, charm and strength of personality, but basically it's because I'm one of the newest to join our group and they all bullied me into it. Plus on a personal note I have a few messages for you to take back" Fred's face had taken a more serious and sad expression at the last sentence.

Harry nodded, looking sad himself for a while. As he looked at Fred, fresh waves of guilt washed over him. "Fred. I'm so sorry you died, if there was anything I could have done to avoid it I would of."

"Harry! Stop that. That's one of the reasons I needed to speak to you. I've spoken to them all - Colin, Remus, Tonks and the others and NO one blames you for their deaths. We all chose to fight and we would have still fought had you been there or not. It's not your fault. Harry."

Harry looked at Fred with tears in his eyes. Slowly he nodded his head and wiped the tears away with the back of his hand. "Thanks Fred. Thanks for telling me"

Fred looked at Harry with a knowing look in his eyes. He wisely decided not to tease Harry about the tears. "Come on Harry, we need to talk"

"Why do people keep saying that to me?" Harry mused. Fred just smiled at him.

Fred and Harry walked slowly through the almost deserted platform in silence for a while. Fred sighed and stopped. Harry looked at Fred curiously. "Fred what's the matter?"

"I'm sorry Harry to be the one to have to tell you this but it's not over. Not yet. There is still a great evil in the world of the living and I'm afraid it's up to you to fix it again. However this time you won't be alone and you will have help."

Harry looked at Fred with horror in his eyes. "What do you mean it's not over? Voldemort is dead, we destroyed all the Horcrux's and he's dead"

Fred looked at Harry for a while before saying "Harry, I cannot tell you everything. Something's you will have to work out yourself, but an evil is at work to attempt to resurrect Voldemort and an even greater threat will arise to threaten the world. But beware. Things aren't always what they seem" he said mysteriously

Harry looked at Fred incredulously "Did you really just say that last bit, honestly?"

Fred managed to look sheepish. "I told 'em you wouldn't fall for that line. Okay, this is one of those things I cannot explain to you at the moment. Just don't believe everything you see and hear. All right mate!"

"Fred, why am I here? I mean I know you wanted to talk and all that, but how did I end up here? Last time it was because Voldemort killed me...I think, I'm still not too sure about all that. What was all that business with the pain in my scar, I mean I was just talking to ...er Ginny" he said with a blush," and then my scar seemed to really hurt and I ended up here, how?"

Fred smiled, "Good lad, knew that thought would occur to you. Well to be honest, you sorta died."

"What again?" Harry interrupted

"Shush. Yes again. But this time you had to. You see last time you died" he said with a smile," the living piece of Voldemort's soul lodged in your brain died and left you and that's how you were able to destroy him, but it still left behind a physical part of itself. The active living part died and vanished, but the 'body' if you like stayed behind. No one can live with that in their head for very long so you had to die."

"So I am dead then?"

"At the moment yes, but very soon something will happen and you will go back and when you do the bit that's in your head will leave for good this time. Then things will get REAL interesting"

"Err, how?" Harry asked.

"Weeeelll, you see Harry my lad, in order to win this time you are going to need a little more than good luck and good friends on your side. You see you have been sorta nominated to be the universe's champion", he grinned, "that's got a good ring to it don't ya think, came up with that myself. But you are going to be given a little more power in order to be able to complete your tasks. Although you were always more powerful than you thought, you were just been held back by the Horcrux in your head. Now that he's really gone the power can grow and it's been decided to give you a little boost. But there's one other thing" as he said this he grimaced as if he was in pain.

"Fred, what other thing?" Harry asked getting a little annoyed with all the mystery

"Well, not so much a thing as a who. You are going to have to share your power with someone else. Someone who will end up been very, very close to you."

"Who?"

Fred grimaced and said "Well it's someone close to both of us"

Harry saw the grimace on Fred's face and suddenly realised who Fred was referring to. "Ginny" he breathed

"Yes, my little sister." Fred's face took on an unfriendly tone "My ONLY little sister, she's the one who will bring you back and who you will share this power with. But you will both have to learn to control and use it and it will take time"

"Ginny?" Harry repeated. "What do we need to do?"

"Sorry buddy, but that's all I've got. It's up to the two of you now"

Harry thought about what Fred had told him in wonder. It would take some time to understand all he had been told.

"Okay so what happens next? You do know that don't you?"

Fred snorted "Yeah I know, Ginny's going to bring you back soon but before you go I need a few favours"

"What favours?" Harry asked feeling a little overwhelmed by all Fred had told him.

"First thing, look after my sister please. I know she's going to be powerful but she's my only little sister and I need you to look after her." Fred said this with a look Harry had never seen before on the normally joking Fred.

"I will Fred" he said softly, after a while he added "You know I love her don't you?"

"Yeah Harry I do" he whispered

"I will never leave her again."Harry sighed

"I know Harry, thank you"

Harry looked at Fred face and realised that he meant it, He would never leave Ginny again. This thought made him feel very happy indeed, despite all that Fred had warned him about.

"What other favour do you need Fred?"

"I need you to speak to my family, mainly George. Tell them ...tell them 'I'm okay and that I love them all.' tell them that. Also tell George to live his life and not to waste it mourning me."

"I will Fred." Harry replied softly. They continued to walk talking about all the pranks that Fred and George had played. It seemed to make Fred happy to talk about his brother and Harry was only too happy to help. After a while Harry stopped and sighed. Harry looked at Fred for a long while; trying to digest all the information he had just been given. He had to ask the question that had been on his mind since he was a small boy and had learnt of his role he had to play in the war.

"Fred. Why me? Why do I have to do all these things?" Harry asked unhappily

"Harry, would you trust anyone else to do it?"

Harry was startled with the reply, he hadn't considered that. "No I suppose not", he conceded

"Atta boy, Harry. Knew you would understand"

Harry looked at Fred expectantly. "OK, I'm ready to go back now. What happens now Fred?"

"Well you won't remember all of this at first, bits will come back to you when you need them to but for now you wait for Ginny to do her stuff"

"When will that be?"

Fred smiled and waved "Now", he said

Harry heard a soft voice pleading with him "_Harry I need you!"_

He felt an enormous pull in the pit of his stomach and the world suddenly went black and Harry felt himself rushing away from the station and Fred.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four – The boy who Lived...again!**

Ginny wasn't happy about been told to leave the infirmary. She had let her father walk her out of the room very reluctantly. Once out in the waiting area her family crowded around her asking questions about what had happened to Harry. Ginny couldn't face any questions at the moment, and silently started to cry; she turned to her father and sobbed against his chest.

Arthur kissed her on the head saying "Ginny, it will be ok. Poppy will see to Harry." Arthur moved her to one of the seats and sat with her. Meanwhile Ron and Hermione were explaining what they knew to the rest of the group, and how Ron had picked Harry up and ran with him to the Hospital wing.

Hermione was holding onto Ron as he explained what they'd seen, and was looking very proud of him for his quick actions; however she still was very worried about Harry. After a while everyone fell silent and sat down to wait for some news. They all jumped as the outer door flung open and Professor McGonagall and Kingsley burst in to the room, looking very worried and breathless.

"What's happened, we were told that Harry had collapsed? Is he ok? Kingsley asked for the pair of them

The family began to explain what they knew again. This had left Ginny alone, and unwatched. As soon as she was sure no one was watching her she turned and quietly let herself back into the main infirmary. No one was going to keep her from her Harry when he needed her the most. She silently crept towards the bed where Madam Pomfrey and another healer were treating Harry, when she heard the healer say,

"I'm so sorry Poppy, He's gone. Harry Potter is dead!"

Ginny's felt the blood drain from her face and she put her hands to her mouth in horror. This could not be happening, not after everything they'd been through. She felt her knees go weak and her eyes began to blur with tears.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" she screamed at the top of her voice. At the sound of her scream, all eyes in the room turned towards her as she continued to scream. Behind her with a bang the main door burst open and her family ran into the room to see what was happening.

"NO! HARRY CAN'T BE DEAD!" Ginny screamed "HARRY, MY HARRY!"

"Oh my!" Molly Weasley cried "Oh sweet Merlin no!" the sound of her daughters scream had turned Molly's blood to ice.

As the family looked in silence at Ginny, Madam Pomfrey and Healer Dravin turned towards them. Madam Pomfrey had tears in her eyes as she looked in anguish at the family in front of her. Ginny started to run towards where Harry lay. Poppy moved towards Ginny to catch her.

"Ginny my darling, no. It's too late he's gone" She caught Ginny in a hug as Ginny sobbed uncontrollably into her apron. Ginny fell to her knees, taking Madam Pomfrey with her. As they knelt on the floor Poppy looked up at Mr and Mrs Weasley. "I'm so sorry, there was nothing we could do, he went so fast."

Professor McGonagall was stood with her hands to her mouth as she took in the scene around her. It was so unfair; Harry had survived his duel with Voldemort but now lay dead in the infirmary. She was startled as Hermione turned to her, sobbing and threw her arms around her neck. "There, there dear" Minerva said feeling totally useless.

Molly had moved to her distraught daughter and knelt down beside her. "Ginny, oh my Ginny" she said as she took her distraught daughter from Madam Pomfrey. She did not know what to say to Ginny, this tragedy on top of the loss of Fred was too much for either woman to bear. As she held her youngest the tears started to fall down Molly's face; as far as she was concerned she had just lost another son and she grieved with Ginny. They knelt on the floor holding each other, words not needed for a long time whilst the family looked on.

As they knelt there Ron had moved towards his friend laid on the bed. He stared for a long time at the battered body of his best friend, not saying anything. As he looked on he realised that the tears were falling down his face. Not been able to stand the sight of Harry's body any longer he moved back to Hermione and took her hand. She looked up at him from the shoulder of Professor McGonagall and immediately moved to hold him.

"Oh Ron, it cannot be true. Harry cannot be dead", she wailed. Ron did not know what to say so he just hugged Hermione and let the tears fall.

Ginny looked up into her mothers eyes, and Molly was surprised at the depth of feeling in her daughters face. She knew that Ginny had feelings for Harry; she even knew that they had both dated last year, but that they had broken up when Dumbledore died. However she was not prepared for the pain that she could see in Ginny's eyes. This was not the look of a teenager with a crush, but that of a young woman who had lost the love of her life and would never get over it.

"Mu...mu...mum, I have to see him"

Molly wasn't sure that this was a good idea, "Later Ginny, now we to look aft.."

"NOW mum!"And with that Ginny broke from her hold and ran to the bed where Harry lay.

Ginny slowed to a walk as she got closer, the tears falling from her cheeks onto the floor. Healer Dravin moved towards her but was stopped as Madam Pomfrey sighed "Chris, let her. She needs to do this"

Harry lay on the bed with his eyes shut, his chest wound had now stopped bleeding but his chest and the bedclothes were covered in his blood. His lips had already started to turn blue. He was covered in many others cuts and bruises and he was very thin. His ribs were clearly visible on his chest and he looked very small as he lay there, nothing like the young man who had so mysteriously arrived back at Hogwarts yesterday and had defeated Voldemort.

As she got to the bedside, she took Harry's unresponsive hand, "Oh Harry, please don't be dead. You cannot be dead, not after everything we've been through. I love you so much"

Ginny took Harry's head in both hands and looked down on his dead face, tears now dripping onto his lips. "Harry you cannot be gone, please don't leave me. Harry I need you!" she whispered and bent down and gently kissed his lips. As she did so she felt strange warmth grow inside her and startled she opened her eyes. Her hands were glowing a pale silver colour, which gently moved from her to Harry's body. It grew to cover his entire body, Ginny let go with a start, and moved away from him, her eyes growing wide.

Without any warning, Harry opened his eyes and red beams of light shot out of them causing Ginny to scream again. The rest of the people in the room all gasped in astonishment at the sight. Harry sat bolt upright and opened his mouth in a silent scream, red light bursting from his mouth and eyes.

As everyone looked on in total disbelief, Harry rose up and started to float in the air as if been held up by two ropes from his arms, which he had now flung wide open. His scar on his head started to glow an intense red. Now he did scream, a strange high pitched scream full of anger and hatred, nothing like his normal voice. This became louder and louder until everyone around him had their hands jammed over their ears in pain. All of a sudden every window in the room exploded into millions of tiny glass particles that flew outwards from the room. Harry was now bathed in red light with his arms outstretched, his scar so bright that no one could look at it , the scream getting louder and louder until it hurt so much to listen to it.

As if a switch had been flipped the light and sound was suddenly gone, and Harry fell back to the bed in a heap like a puppet whose strings had been cut. No one moved for a few moments, all stunned by what they had just witnessed. There was total silence for a while until,

"Merlin's beard, what the bloody hell was all that about?" Ron asked in a stunned voice.

Ron's comment seemed to awakened people from their stunned silence and the two healers rushed to Harry's bed. Ginny was only seconds behind them as they started to examine Harry, first moving him so he was laid down properly and then using their wands to cast diagnosis spells on him. The wound on his chest was gone, as was all the other cuts and bruises. However it was his forehead that caused the most confusion. The scar that had been present since he was one year old, the scar that Voldemort had left on him when he killed his parents was gone. Harry's eyes fluttered briefly and then opened, taking in the three worried faces looking down at him

"Err, Hello. What's going on?" he asked rather hesitantly

"HARRY! YOU'RE ALIVE!" screamed Ginny happily. She tried to get to Harry, but the two healers were blocking her path.

"Miss Weasley! Please let us continue to examine Mr Potter first." Madam Pomfrey stated, and both she and Healer Dravin turned back to Harry.

"Remarkable! It seems that all his injuries have healed themselves." Healer Dravin stated

"But Chris! He was dead, wasn't he?"

At this comment Harry looked up at the two healers in alarm. "Well I feel all right now, do you think I can sit up?"

The two healers looked at one another, then Madam Pomfrey shrugged. "It is Harry Potter, odd things always happen to him. Okay Harry, but you will have to stay here overnight for observation, and we need to look into what just happened and what has happened to your scar."

"My Scar? What's wrong with my scar?" as Harry spoke his hand had moved to his forehead to feel the area where his scar used to be. This time instead of the usual feel of the lightning bolt shaped scar, all he could feel was smooth skin.

Madam Pomfrey conjured up a small mirror and held it up for Harry to see. Harry peered at his reflection in the mirror and was astonished to see the scar was gone, replaced with normal smooth skin. As he looked he realised how odd he looked without the scar that had defined most of his life before now,

"How?..." he wondered aloud

"I have no idea Mr Potter, but if you let us do our jobs maybe we will be able to find out."

"OK, Madam Pomfrey", Harry replied sheepishly, he was about to lie back to allow Madam Pomfrey to carry on when a tall red-haired beauty practically attacked him.

Ginny had had enough of waiting and pushed her way through to Harry. "Oh my Harry! "she called and enveloped him in a hug, tears running down her face.

"Ginny, it's okay. I'm fine, I'm sorry to scare you." Harry said, aware of the entire Weasley clan looking at the pair with odd looks on their faces.

"Harry, I thought I'd lost you again. I couldn't live without you, I love you!"

At this announcement Molly Weasley's hand went to her open mouth, and tears sprung to her eyes. Arthur just nodded and smiled to himself, he had been watching his daughter for a long while now and this was not a surprise to him, however judging by the look on Charlie and Bill's faces they were unaware of their sisters feelings, but both seemed happy for her. Ron also looked happily at the couple much to Arthur's surprise. He hadn't expected Ron to be so understanding of the situation and silently berated himself for mis-judging his youngest son.

Meanwhile Ginny had grasped both of Harry's hands and leant forward and kissed Harry passionately on the lips. As they kissed they both started to glow a deep golden colour which began to intensify, as the onlookers stared in amazement at the now brightly glowing couple, a wind began to blow from nowhere causing everything not fixed down to blow around the room. Parchments flew around as if a small tornado had sprung up inside the infirmary.

Oblivious to this the couple continued to kiss, Ginny's hair blowing around her head like a deep red halo. The glow intensified with small golden sparkles of light forming in it. Once more the spectators to this had to turn away from the intensity of the light, but after a short while, slowly the glow faded and the couple broke apart.

Ginny looked deep into Harry's emerald eyes and saw only a deep love and longing there. She smiled at him for a long while, words not required to convey their feelings for each other.

Mr Weasley and Professor McGonagall shared a look. They had all seen something similar before but Molly was looking confused, none of the adults said anything.

Harry and Ginny seemed unaware that anything untoward had happened and after a while realised that everyone was staring at them. It was starting to make them feel rather uncomfortable. They were still holding hands and Ginny had sat on the bed next to Harry.

"What are you all staring at?" Ginny asked starting to blush.

"Well you two, you just glowed and kissed and well.. well you glowed" Ron stuttered, also starting to turn a bright red at the memory of the deeply passionate moment.

Hermione nodded at the couple, "What Ron is trying to say, badly, is when you two kissed just now you both glowed a very bright golden light, it was incredible, what did it feel like?"

Harry looked at her in confusion. He then looked down at Ginny who shrugged at him indicating she had no idea what they were talking about either. "What are you going on about?"

"Well, talk about losing yourself in the moment!" Ron sniggered "Are you two really saying you have no idea what just happened?"

Both Harry and Ginny shook their heads puzzled.

"That must of been one hell'ava kiss then" Ron laughed, Hermione joining him in his laughter. Harry and Ginny looked at each other shyly but after a while they both started to blush aware that they had declared their feeling for each other in a very public display of affection. They soon joined in the laughter even though neither knew what they were laughing about.

After a few more minutes the two healers decided that enough was enough and started to shoo the people out of the ward. "Come along you lot, let us examine Mr Potter, it's getting late and he will need to spend the night here."

Ron, Hermione and the rest of the Weasleys started to move out of the room, but Ginny stayed put.

"Miss Weasley, you need to move as well. Harry needs his rest; he's had a rather traumatic evening"

"No way, I'm staying here with Harry tonight!" Ginny stated.

Her mother looked shocked at the suggestion "GINEVRA MOLLY WEASLEY! You are not spending the night with Harry. You are under aged and what will people think?" she raged, the sight of their affection and the strange glow now a memory as her mother's instincts kicked in.

"Mum, I need to stay with Harry, he needs me!" Ginny pleaded

Harry tried not look at Molly, as he didn't want to be a source of argument between these two red haired ladies.

"Ginny, you will come with us; you can see Harry in the morning" Molly stated trying to mollify her daughter

Harry decided that he would try to help smooth things over, despite liking the idea of a night with Ginny, even if it was in the Hospital wing.

Harry took Ginny's hand and looked at her "You'd better go, I'll be fine here. I'll see you first thing in the morning love"

Ginny face glowed at the use of the word "love", she looked him in the eyes and nodded "Ok Harry, remember, I love you", she kissed him hard on the lips

"Euuugghh!" Ron spluttered, "Get a room!"

"We intend to Ron!" Ginny said with a smile

"GINNY!" her mother raged again. At that Ginny smiled impishly at Harry and walked off with her mother still yelling at her for her un-lady like behaviour.

Harry could still hear them arguing as they and everyone else left the room. Laughing silently he turned his attention to Madam Pomfrey who looked at him with a cool expression; however he could just see the corners of her mouth turning up.

"Well Mr Potter, let's have a look at you then"

I was much later, most of the schools few remaining residents were asleep, either in there dorms or in make-shift camps set up in the main hall. Mrs Weasley had finally persuaded Ginny to go back to the Griffindor dormitory with Hermione for some sleep. She had asked Hermione to keep an eye on Ginny as she suspected that Ginny would try to sneak out to be with Harry, so strong was her desire to be with him, so Hermione sat on one of the other beds watching her friend struggle to sleep. After a while Ginny had fallen into an uneasy sleep. Hermione stayed with her for a while until she was sure she really was asleep, and then moved back to the common room. When she got there she found Ron waiting for her on one of the couches in front of the main fire.

"Ginny ok?" Ron asked sleepily

"Yeah I think so. It took her a while to sleep but she dropped off in the end. What are you still doing here?"

"Waiting for you. I couldn't sleep myself; I kept seeing Harry laid there dead. What do you think happened Hermione?"

"No idea Ron. I thought Ginny was going to go mad when she saw Harry dead though. Did she bring him back? And what about that kiss and the glow?"

Ron shrugged, and moved to put his arm around Hermione. He had his suspicions about the glow but didn't want to bring it up until he was sure.

"I suppose we ought to stay here to make sure Ginny doesn't sneak off, she really wanted to stay with Harry." Ron said with a glint in his eye.

They both settled down on the sofa to "keep an eye" on Ginny, giggling a little as they did.

In the Headmistress quarters three people were still awake however and discussing the days turn of events.

"Molly, you saw what happened between them. I know what it looked like to me" Minerva said

"NO! It cannot be that, they are too young. It must have been something else" Molly Weasley begged. Arthur was holding her as she stood looking very anguished.

"Molly dear, I've got to agree with Minerva. I have only seen that sort of magic during bonding ceremonies before, but even then I have never seen one so strong before"

"Oh Arthur, they cannot be bonded, they aren't even engaged or even dating properly at the moment. It HAS to be something else" Molly looked around the room for some help, and spotted the newly installed painting of Professor Dumbledore. It was a rather good painting of Albus, with him sat in his favourite armchair, wearing his famous half moon spectacles.

"Albus, are you awake?" Molly asked. Professor Dumbledore slowly opened his eyes which twinkled with suppressed mirth.

"Molly my dear, it's so good to see you again. You are looking as radiant as ever"

Molly blushed slightly at the compliment, even though she knew he was teasing her. She looked a complete mess, still wearing the same cloths she had fought in. Her hair was a mess and she had a streak of ash across her face.

"Flatterer!" she said with a sad grin. "Albus have you been listening to what we have been discussing?"

"Molly, yes I am aware of your conversation and the events you are discussing"

"Well Albus, what do you think happened to Harry? And what happened between Harry and Ginny?"

"Molly my dear, whilst I cannot answer all your questions fully, I am after all not the real Albus Dumbledore, but merely a painting",

Molly snorted "Merely!" under hear breath,

"I can answer to some degree your questions" Albus replied with a small grin to Molly's comment.

"The reason why Harry died was because his body needed to rid itself of something. Something that it had carried around since he was a small child. You will need to speak to Harry if you wish to find out more than this as it's a deeply personal thing to Harry and I will not talk about it without Harry's permission. As to what happened between Harry and Ginny, well Arthur and Minerva have already guessed what that was. Molly, I'm afraid that those two are magically and spiritually bonded in a very strong way. They are soul mates Molly, and you know how rare and wonderful that is. Even though they have not had a marriage ceremony, they are closer now than any married couple and to keep them apart against their will for a very long time would damage both of them. This needed to happen to help both of them complete a task that is required of them. Please do not ask me what that task is at the moment as I am not allowed to divulge that information."

Minerva snorted "Just a portrait!" Albus smiled and his eyes twinkled in her direction.

Arthur had moved to wrap his arms around the stunned Molly Weasley. "Molly it will be fine. Harry is a fine boy and we sorta knew she loved him. It's just that things have moved along a little quicker that we would have liked. I think we are going to have to keep a close eye on the pair of them in future"

"But Albus, what is it they have to do, I hoped that once HE was dead, then we could move on with our lives in peace."

Albus looked sadly at Molly but said nothing

Arthur looked at his distraught wife and said, "Molly dearest, we do not know what this 'task' is yet, it may not be anything dangerous"

"Huh!" Molly wept, "When has any task that Harry undertaken not been dangerous? They are so young and it's just not fair. Haven't they been through enough?"

"Well, until we know more, there's nothing we can do. We will take them both back to the Burrow, once Kingsley has had the Aurors check it out and we will take it from there. We should be able to go home tomorrow."

"Home.., I've missed the Burrow" she said wistfully, after a few seconds however she remembered something, "But it won't be the same without Fred. Oh, Arthur we need to arrange Fred's funeral ", and Molly dissolved into a fresh wave of crying. Arthur stood with his arms wrapped around his wife with tears in his own eyes.

Minerva McGonagall watched her two friends comfort each other with a slightly wistful look in her eyes. She slowly left the pair to their grief and worry and went to her private rooms.

Ginny Weasley slept badly. She had argued with her mother all the way from the hospital wing. She had wanted to stay with Harry so much that it almost hurt. Why did no one understand? She had to stay with him, he needed her. But her mother kept going on about it 'not been appropriate' for a sixteen year old girl to spend the night with a seventeen year old boy, even if it was on the hospital wing. I mean what did they think they were going to do with Madam Pomfrey prowling about?

Ginny finally gave in and let her mother lead her to the dorms, fully intending to sneak back out to the infirmary once she had gone, but her mother had anticipated this and had asked Hermione to stay with her. After another wave of arguing about her mother not trusting her – even Ginny could see the irony of that particular argument – Ginny, finally gave in to her mother's demands and stormed off to her bed. She had eventually fallen asleep fully clothed with her guard watching her from the other bed.

However she did not sleep well, her dreams were ones off the events throughout the year. She dreamt about the torture she endured at Hogwarts under the Carrow's. The pain of the Cruciatus curse and the humiliation of the mental torture dished out by some of the Slytherin's. She dreamt of the battle and the death of her beloved brother Fred, but most off all she kept returning to the image of Hagrid carrying in Harry's apparently lifeless body into the castle grounds, and the image of Harry laying dead in the Infirmary earlier today. In her sleep she desperately wanted to get to Harry, to be with him, to assure herself he wasn't dead. In fact she needed to be with him, her body and soul wanted it so badly that it hurt.

As she dreamt, despite the fact that she could not yet apparate, and despite the wards in place at Hogwarts preventing such a thing, she slowly started to fade away. This wasn't an apparition like any other; in fact it wasn't apparition at all. She just needed to be with Harry, and so her body responded. Even thought she was asleep and she had left her wand on the bedside table, her body responded to the need and she disappeared from her bed.

In the Hospital wing, Harry was sleeping just as badly, with similar dreams of needing to be with Ginny. As he lay there, Ginny slowly faded into existence next to him under the covers. Both still asleep, they held each other and their dreams took on a more pleasant tone as they finally relaxed.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five – Back to the Burrow**

The sun rose the following morning casting a golden light on the castle. The sky was totally devoid of any clouds and the birds were once more singing in the Forest. The golden light crept in through the newly repaired windows in the Hospital wing, casting long shadows on the floor. Harry Potter woke for the second time in 24 hours to find Ginny Weasley lying next to him. He couldn't remember for the life of him how she had got there. Didn't Mrs Weasley drag her away last night? Did she creep back in during the night? He was sure thay Mrs Weasley would of thought of that and made certain she couldn't do that. Ginny mumbled something in her sleep and turned around to face him. She smiled at something in her dreams and snuggled closer to him. All thoughts of Mrs Weasley fled Harry mind, and he gazed in wonder at the young women lying with him. All of a sudden he became very aware that he was only wearing a short hospital gown, and this sent another chill down his spine as he imagined Mrs Weasley finding the pair of them together. Slowly, as not to wake Ginny, he lifted the blankets to check on Ginny's state of dress and was relieved to see she was still fully clothed. He lay back and closed his eyes in relief. He did not need Molly Weasley mad at him, just when things were starting to go well with Ginny. He thought back to the previous day's events and slowly put his hand to his head. He felt where his scar used to be and was still surprised to feel smooth skin there.

'_So it wasn't a dream'_ he thought. All of a sudden as if the memory of his scar triggered something, he remembered something else.

"Fred!" he exclaimed aloud. "How could I forget about Fred?"

Unfortunately this woke Ginny, who opened her eyes and looked at Harry with a confused expression on her face.

"Harry? What are you doing in my bed? I thought you were in the Infirmary?" she asked with obvious confusion in her voice.

"Your bed?" Harry asked with an amused tone, "I think you'd better have a good look around love, you're in my bed and we are still in the Hospital wing."

Ginny looked at Harry with an odd expression and sat up looking around. "How did I get here?"

"Don't you know? I assumed you sneaked in during the night."

Ginny looked at Harry with a slightly worried look, as she shook her head. "No, Mum left Hermione to guard me so I couldn't. I fell asleep eventually but I kept dreaming that I wanted to be with you. Harry what happened, how did I get here?"

"No idea Ginny, I'm sure we'll figure it out, but I'm glad you did" Harry stated as he kissed her.

Ginny giggled and kissed Harry back for a while. Suddenly she sat bolt upright and gasped "Mum! She'll kill us if she finds us her together..."

"**GINERVRA MOLLY WEASLEY!, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"**

"Too late!" Ginny whispered and turned to face her red faced and very angry looking mother. "Morning mum"

"Don't you 'Morning mum' me young lady, what are you doing here? I thought I told you to stay in your room. Harry, did you encourage her to come here?"

Ginny gave Harry a look that said 'work with me here' and looked back at the enraged Mrs Weasley. "Mum you said I could see Harry in the morning, so when I woke up I walked here to see Harry. Look I'm fully clothed", as she said this she got out of bed to show her mother that she was indeed dressed. "Sorry for getting into his bed, but I was cold from the walk."

Molly looked at her daughter with suspicion in her eyes.

Before she could say anything else Ginny asked "Why are you here Mother?"

Molly Weasley managed to look annoyed and embarrassed at the same time. "Well I went to check on you and found your brother and Hermione had spent the night together in the common room and you missing from the dormitory."

"Ron and Hermione?" Ginny wondered out loud

"Yes and we have already had words, and when I found your bed empty, I thought that I would find you here. However your bed did look slept in and I apologise for doubting you Ginny" At this statement Ginny felt a little guilty for deceiving her mother, but she had honestly no idea on how she had got to Harry bed and didn't want or need an argument just now.

"Anyway, how are you feeling Harry dear, recovered from yesterday?"

Harry looked first at Ginny in amazement that Mrs Weasley had bought such a flimsy story and then at Mrs Weasley. "Err yes Mrs Weasley, feeling much better thank you. Sorry for having Ginny in my bed."

"Oh, no harm done dear. Just to let you know that you need to get your things together, we are all leaving for the Burrow in a hour and you and Hermione are coming with us." She replied in a tone that allowed no room for discussion on that matter, it seemed that the decision had already been made. "Ginny you need to pack also, the school will be closed until September to allow for repairs so you need to bring all your things with you. See you both downstairs in the Main Hall in an hour" and with that she breezed out of the Hospital wing leaving a stunned Ginny and Harry

Ginny turned to Harry "She believed me? And that was it?"

"Ginny I don't think for one second she believed you, but for some reason she let us off. Maybe she's so mad at Ron and Hermione that she did want to yell at us" Harry replied not believing what he said even as the words left his mouth. After a pause he just shrugged and smiled "I'm just pleased we didn't get yelled at, and that your here with me. So how did you manage to sneak past Ron and Hermione?"

Ginny looked at Harry, grinning at her, "That's just it Harry, I don't remember sneaking in here at all, I really don't."

Harry looked at her puzzled "So how did you get here?" he wondered.

Ginny returned the look with equal confusion.

An hour or so later Ginny and Harry were waiting in the Main Hall along with a rather subdued Ron and Hermione. Ginny had left Harry to go back to her dorm to pack whilst Harry dressed. He was allowed to leave only after Madam Pomfrey had insisted on a few quick tests. She seemed pleased with the results but promised that she would call on him in a few days time. Before he went to pack he had an important task to complete. He slowly walked down to the lake and to the white tomb of his mentor and friend, Dumbledore. He stood for a while looking at the broken lid, untouched since Tom broke into the tomb to steal the Elder wand. The body of the great wizard lay untouched as if asleep, magical charms stopping the decay process. Harry slowly walked to the tomb and gently placed the wand back into Dumbledore's cold hand. He stood back and contemplated the scene in front of him silently for a while.

"Thanks you professor for all your help. Sleep gently sir...Albus."

He raised his wand and cast the necessary spells causing the tomb lid to move back into place. It glowed briefly and then the two pieces merged into one and the tomb was as before. Harry slowly turned and walked back to the school to pack.

Once he got to the main entrance the others were waiting for him. Ron and Hermione were very pleased to see Harry looking so well and both hugged him, Ron gave him a fierce but quick hug and slapped him on the back but Hermione's hug was a lot more gentle. Ron was still looking very flustered after his mother's tirade that morning, and Hermione was looking more than a little upset about it.

"Mate, it was awful. Hermione and me were asleep on the couch when Mum came in and went ballistic with us. I mean nothing happened but she went nuts. She went to the girl's dorm and when she found Ginny missing and stormed off I thought you'd be dead by now"

"Yes Ginny, how did you get past us, I set up a number of charms that should have woke me if you left the dorm but they were still active this morning, made a horrible noise when your mother came back down."

Ginny looked at Harry first then back at Hermione, "To be honest I don't know Hermione. I don't remember leaving the dormitory and walking to the Hospital wing. I just woke up in bed with Harry, and then Mum caught us. I mean I was fully clothed and we were just asleep but you know what she's like about stuff like that" Ginny had started to blush as she said this all the while looking at Ron with some fear in her eyes as to his reaction. She had always secretly liked the way Ron had looked out for her, but this time she needed his support.

Ron meanwhile had looked at his baby sister with a new respect. He'd witnessed the near impossible, with the things he'd seen the day before and they had scared him a little. He really had thought that his best friend had died, but then it seemed to him that Ginny had brought him back to life and that scared him even more, but also awed him a little. He was just glad that Harry was still around and even though he'd admitted to himself and Hermione that he was happy for the pair of them, Ron realized that Ginny was still looking for his approval.

"Ginny, listen, I know I've been a bit of a git in the past about your boyfriends, but I know that Harry is the right one for you and I'm happy for the two of you...just don't snog to much when I'm around ok?" He said the last bit with a slight smile that Ginny returned.

"Thank you Ron", she whispered, "anyway Mum found us and went mental. I told her I'd managed to sneak off and to see Harry when I woke up but I'm not sure she believed me."

Hermione look at both Ginny and Harry intrigued. She loved a good puzzle but anything she was about to say was interrupted by the arrival of Mr and Mrs Weasley.

"Ah, there you all are! Come along we have work to do when we get home. Minerva has arranged for the schools floo to be connected to the Burrow and we have just got word that the Aurors have declared our home safe to go back to. Bill and Charlie have already gone back and have started to clear up." Mrs Weasley sounded very happy, but she still gave the four of them a look that said she hadn't finished with either pair after the nights escapades.

They all follow Mr and Mrs Weasley towards the Main Hall where they are met by Professor McGonagall, where she warmly embraced Mrs Weasley, who returned the embrace with a sad smile. "Will you come for Fred's funeral Minerva?"

"Off course Molly, I will be there." Professor McGonagall looked sadly at Molly and her eyes seem to become slightly glassy with unshed tears. "Fred was a difficult student when he and George were here but the school was a much quieter place when they left, and I missed the pair of them."

Molly smiled at Minerva with a sad smile, whilst her eyes threatened to fill with tears again. The two women held one another briefly. They parted and without another word Molly took a pinch of floo powder and threw it into the fireplace and disappeared. The rest of the family soon followed leaving Harry stood with Professor McGonagall alone.

"Harry, how are you feeling after yesterday?"

"Much better Professor thank you."

"Good, well I hope to see you soon and maybe even next year to repeat your seventh year?"

Harry gasped at the thought of coming back to Hogwarts. He hadn't thought about what he wanted to do for the future. Indeed up to very recently he didn't even know he had a future.

"Do you mind if I think about that Professor. I hadn't had time to give it any thought."

"Off course Harry. The offer is open to anyone in your year, and I hope you will join us in order to complete your NEWTS. I understand you wish to become an Auror and you will need your exams to achieve this."

Harry thanked Professor McGonagall and flooed to the Burrow to join his 'family'.

It was later in the day and the whole family were sat around the dinner table tucking into a fabulous meal cooked by Mrs Weasley. The mood was sober and quiet as they ate and contemplated the day. They had spent most of the day tidying and cleaning the Burrow. The house was in reasonable state considering the speed with which they had left but there was still months of dust to clean. It was obvious that Death Eaters had been in the house as many pieces of furniture were damaged. The Aurors had been earlier and declared the house free from hex's and traps so the cleaning day began, but instead of the usual happy banter there was very little conversation as everyone worked in near silence. Harry and Ginny were never very far apart as they worked, taking comfort from each other just by been close to one another. After a light lunch before they started work again, Harry and Ginny went for a short walk outside, walking hand in hand but not talking much. Watching them from the kitchen window was Mrs Weasley. As she watched her only daughter and the boy she thought of as a son she was struck by how mature they acted. After a while watching them talk to one another, Ginny must have started to cry because Harry took her in his arms and gently stroked her hair as she wept. Molly Weasley realised that even though they were only 16 and 17, in their short lives they had seen and witnessed far more tragedy and horror than most witches and wizards would see in a whole lifetime. They were not kids anymore, and as she looked at the pair she realised that to treat the couple as a pair of teenage kids would be wrong. Molly sighed sadly as she realised that they were never going to have the joys of been a normal teenager, but she was glad that they had found each other and were drawing strength from their relationship. She was not sure how she was going to deal with the complications that such a strong bonding would produce, but that she would have to deal with it sympathetically as she had done so this morning, not believing her daughters weak excuse at all. Indeed, she was in a relationship with Arthur at a similar age and even pregnant at not much older than Ginny. She watched as Ginny composed herself, and gently kissed Harry before the pair started to return to the house to continue the work for the remainder of the afternoon.

As the family quietly ate there evening meal, Harry sat next to Ginny, the peace was broken by a sudden green flash as George and Percy arrived back from St Mungos. George looked very tired and had a haunted look on his face as he stood in the kitchen looking lost at his family. With a small cry Mrs Weasley stood and embraced her third born. The rest of the family stood to greet George, who hugged them all in turn, Hermione included. Harry stood back not sure on how to proceed; would George blame him for Fred's death, would he never speak to Harry again? After a short while the family realised that Harry was stood apart. George let go of Ginny and turned to look at Harry with an inscrutable look on his face. They stood for a short while, neither saying a word. Ginny moved slowly to Harry's side and gently took his hand and turned to look at George with a questioning look in her eyes. As George looked at Harry and Ginny, the tears once more welled up in his eyes, and his look turned so sad that Harry just walked across the gap and embraced him. George returned the embrace so hard, it was like a drowning man holding on to his lifesaver.

"H-Harry...I know you think it was your fault, but it isn't. You stopped HIM and Fred helped"

Harry was also crying, part in relief and part in sorrow, but after a while they broke the embrace and all returned to the table.

Harry took a deep breath and looked over at Ron and Hermione. Words seemed to pass unspoken between them, and Ron nodded slightly. Harry stood up and looked at the family in front of him.

"Erm, if it's okay with everyone, I think it's time for explanations about what happened this last year and how and why I've lost my scar" Harry announced. People looked at Harry as he announced this, and everyone sat down and looked at the young man expectantly.

"As you all know I was given my scar when Voldemort killed my mother, but to explain what we have been doing and why I've lost my scar I need to explain what my scar really was and to tell you about Horcrux's"

And so Harry proceeded to talk about the task given to him by Dumbledore and how and why Voldemort had created his seven Horcrux's. As he talked, helped in places by Ron and Hermione, the group became more and more horrified with what the trio had had to do during the year and once he had explained what a Horcrux was and how you created one they all looked slightly sick at the thought.

As he listened to Harry talk, George started to feel a new emotion grow in him. As he heard about the evil of what Voldemort had done and the lengths he would of gone too to destroy all George valued, he started to feel an enormous sense of pride in the actions that he and his family had taken to stop such an evil being. The fact that Fred had died trying to stop him made George very proud of his twin. George realised that even though he would never completely get over the loss of Fred, he would be eventually able to live his life and would dedicate it to him in order to honour Fred's memory and the sacrifice he had made.

Harry spoke for a long while, all the time Ginny was sat with him, holding his hand. At times Mrs Weasley cried at the hardships that the three of them had to endure, but when Harry got to the part about discovering that he was the seventh Horcrux and how he walked to the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself she gave a small cry and moved across the room to embrace Harry. After a while she let him carry on his tale and he soon got to the events of the previous day.

"I was talking to Ginny when I felt my scar really hurt. I must have passed out and as far as I understand it, I actually died...briefly. You see I went to the same place that I went to when Voldemort killed me in the Forbidden Forest. But this time instead of Dumbledore meeting me, it was someone else." Harry paused for a short while. "Although I cannot remember everything I was told I can remember bits but the person who met me in that place was Fred."

At this Molly and George took a sharp breath in at this news. Both looked at Harry intently.

"Fred told me that when I died in the Forest, the living part of Voldemort's soul was killed but the physical part – my Scar - was left behind. I still had to get rid of this bit and that's why I had to die again. When Ginny brought me back-" At this, everyone looked at Ginny who blushed; Harry smiled and tightened his grip on her hand before continuing "When Ginny brought me back I was left without the scar."

"Did Fred say anything else?" George asked

"Yes, we did talk for a while, a lot of it is a bit fuzzy but he did tell me one thing I can remember. He told me that he didn't blame me for his death and neither did any of the others, and that he asked me to tell you all, that he's alright and that he loves you all."

Harry didn't want to tell them about the news that it wasn't all over just yet, nor about the bond between him and Ginny, although he guessed that Mr and Mrs Weasley had guessed some of it already. Everyone was silent for a while before George said "Thanks Harry for telling us that. It makes me proud that Fred died fighting that monster and that he's okay now." He paused for a while looking at his family before the shadow of smile formed on his lips. "Anything to eat around here? I'm starving!"

Mrs Weasley jumped up and started to make George some food, although Ron also had extra much to everyone's amusement. For the rest of the evening the conversation was of happier times and the things Fred and George used to get up to.

_Voldemort raised his wand and pointed it at the young women kneeling before him. Tears were streaming down her face as she begged him to spare her baby. Voldemort smiled a cruel smile and savoured the moment as she screamed in terror, before he let leash the killing curse that ended the fool of a women's life._

_He was now in the ministry of Magic and there was a battle going on. The young wizard fought alongside his beloved Godfather. They briefly turned to smile at each other as they fought, when the older man suddenly glowed green with the effect of a killing curse fired by his own cousin. As the young wizard looked on in horror, the elder man turned and slowly fell through the veil to the world beyond. He screamed his name "SIRIUS!"_

As the dreamer experienced these and many more images of the death of his loved ones he silently screamed and screamed but the images kept on coming over and over again.

Ginny woke suddenly, she sat bolt upright startled by the intensity of the dreams she had witnessed. Even though the nightmares were very disturbing she knew straight away that there were not her dreams but those of her beloved Harry. With instincts she didn't even know she possessed she realised that in Ron's room lying on the camp bed set up for him, Harry was still locked in the never ending images of the nightmare.

Ginny quickly got up and opened her door to the landing beyond. The house was silent and dark, as everyone had long retired to bed. She silently padded along to her brothers room and gently opened the door so as not make any noise. From the light of the moon, streaming through Ron's open window, she could see Ron fast asleep in his bed. Alongside his bed was the smaller camp-bed. The figure laid there was silently writhing on the bed, pulling and twisting the covers into odd shapes. Ginny ran quickly to his bed and gently brushed his forehead.

"Harry!" she whispered. "Harry, it's okay, I've got you now." As she spoke and stroked his forehead, Harry slowly relaxed and eventually his breathing returned to a more normal pattern. Ginny briefly toyed with idea of returning to her own bed, but quickly dismissed it and gently lifted the covers and slipped in the bed alongside Harry. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. Within five minutes she was fast asleep, and Harry slept the rest of the night without the horrors of the dreams from earlier.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six – Saying Goodbye**

Molly Weasley woke early on the day she was to bury her son. As she woke to the sunlight flooding into the room she shared with her beloved husband she sighed silently to herself. She laid in bed thinking about the day that lay before her. No parent should have to bury their child but Molly knew she had to be strong for George, as today was going to be very tough for him. She thought about the connection between the two of them. The connection between siblings was strong, but nothing compared to the connection between identical twins. She recalled the twins early years when they would talk together in a language that only they knew. Even then the pair loved jokes and laughing, and as they grew this would become there defining feature. Their ingenuity in the creation of their practical jokes often surprised Molly, and even though she had to scold them often, secretly she was very proud of them and would cry with laughter when she knew no one was watching. Yes, today was going to be tough. She looked over at her husband, still asleep and looking peaceful at last. Arthur rarely cried but last night, once they had retired to bed, he had cried like a small child. She had spent many long hours just holding him as he rocked back and forth with the agony of loss. Finally, when he had no more tears left to shed, he had fallen asleep; she took a lot longer to drop off, but finally sleep took her. She had thought she had heard someone moving about in the early hours of the morning, but she was just too exhausted to investigate.

Molly crept out of bed as quietly as she could and silently dressed in order to avoid waking her husband. He deserved some decent sleep, and she was only too happy to allow him that in order to cope with the day ahead. As she always did before descending to the kitchen she looked in on her children. This was a habit she had developed many years ago, and even now with them all nearly fully grown she found it hard to break. She opened the door to Percy's room and saw Percy and Charlie still asleep, Percy in his bed, with Charlie asleep on the floor, snoring quietly. She smiled at the image of the two of them, so different but still brothers. She closed the door and moved to George's room. Here she stood for a long while before she could open the door. Eventually she summoned her Gryffindor courage and opened it to see George asleep on the bed. Bill however was sat in the chair, and looked exhausted. He had his eyes shut but as she opened the door he opened them slightly and looked at her. Silently a conversation took place with that single look. Bill had stayed awake all night looking over his younger brother. It had been a long tough night but Bill gently nodded his head at his mother. She looked at her son and gratefully mouthed the words "_Thank you". _Bill sadly smiled back, and she shut the door. Next she moved to Ginny room, as she opened the door she was presented with the scene of Hermione fast asleep on the second camp bed, but a completely empty bed where Ginny was supposed to be. Molly temper was well known to her family and friends and predictably her anger levels shot through the roof. She non-to gently shut the door, waking Hermione from her slumber and marched down to Ron's room and threw the door open. As she expected she found her youngest fast asleep in the arms of Harry Potter. She was about the launch into one of her famous tirades was astonishingly she stopped. As she looked at the pair fast asleep in front of her, she felt her heart melt. They looked so peaceful, and she had to admit it to herself that they looked good together. Even surprising herself she looked at them silently for a while and then turned around and shut the door. She walked back towards the stairs passing a sleepy looking but astonished Hermione along the way.

"Good morning dear" she said as she swept passed. Hermione couldn't say anything due to the fact she was so surprised.

Ginny awoke to see the face of Harry Potter smiling at her.

"Morning gorgeous. This is becoming a habit" he said with amusement in his voice.

Ginny smiled back and looked deep into his emerald eyes. Silently she kissed him passionately on the mouth before grimacing slightly.

"Sorry, morning breath!" She stated. Harry laughed and kissed her once again.

"I really don't care, but I'm guessing you mum might not be too chuffed to find you in my bed again"

Ginny's eyes widened at the thought. "Shit!" she said in a most un-ladylike way.

Before she could get any further, the door burst open. Ginny shrieked and pulled the covers over her head, as if it would act like a large invisibility cloak and make her vanish, however it wasn't her mother at the door but Hermione, who bounded in to the room. She sat on Ron's bed who groggily woke up at the noise.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" he asked in a confused voice but before she had time to answer, Ron spotted Ginny peeping over the top of Harry duvet. "Sodding hell Harry! What are you doing with Ginny in there?"

"Well which question would you like answering first Ron" Hermione snapped. "Anyway the two are sort of linked. I've just seen the most amazing thing. Your mum came into Ginny's room and saw that you were missing. I think she must have guessed where you were because she stomped straight over here. I watched her open the bedroom and she went very red in the face."

"O-oh, that's always a bad sign" Ron grimaced.

"Well yes, I thought you were a dead man Harry but then she just stood there for a while, then smiled and shut the door and went downstairs to the kitchen."

Ginny looked at Hermione with confusion in her eyes. "Well I'm glad I'm still alive, but very surprised that I am. And to answer your question Ron, Harry was having a nightmare last night, so I came to help him"

At this Harry looked very surprised. "How did you know Ginny?"

"I don't know, I just did" Ginny replied with a puzzled look. Harry also looked puzzled, but Hermione had a knowing smile on her face, unseen by the others.

However no more was mentioned about this latest puzzle and very soon the four of them had dressed and made their way down to the kitchen for breakfast. All were dressed in sombre cloths fitting for the occasion. Mrs Weasley was making her usual breakfast with a forced smile on her face. Instead of her usual bright cloths she was also dressed in black. After the group had eaten a rather subdued breakfast they got up to get ready for the day, as they were leaving Mrs Weasley called out.

"Ginny, a word please"

Ginny grimaced at the other three.

"Oh bugger!" she whispered under her breath "Knew it was too good to be true".

She turned back to her mother who had adopted a rather stern look, although if you knew Molly Weasley well, a small upturn to the sides of her mouth could be seen and her eyes seemed to have an amused sparkle to them. Harry took Ginny hand and moved to stay with her to face the matriarch's wroth together.

"Harry dear, I need to speak to my daughter alone if you don't mind" Molly announced, heading off this predictable display of solidarity.

"Sorry love, I tried" Harry mumbled to Ginny who just shrugged her shoulders and turned to watch the trio leave.

"Ginny, I need to speak to you about Harry and why you were in his bed this morning" Molly asked in a surprisingly calm voice.

"Mum, nothing happened. I just woke up in the night and knew that Harry was having a nightmare. I had to go to him to make it go away and I just sorta fell asleep..honest"

"And how did you know he was having a nightmare young lady?" she asked sternly

"I don't know, I just knew, I could see his nightmare in my mind" Ginny answered with tears starting to form in her eyes at the memory. "He could see all the people he loved been killed over and over again and he couldn't do anything about it mum. It was dreadful to see and I knew he needed me."

Mrs Weasley was shocked to hear this news. She had assumed that her daughters midnight jaunt was just that of a hormonal teenager but this news confirmed what Professor Dumbledore had told her about the two been bonded and soul mates.

"Ginny, why did you have to go to Harry, and not come and wake us?" She asked in a more gentle voice, already knowing what answer she would get

"Because I love him Mum. I think I always have." Ginny answered softly. "I have to be with him. It hurts when we are apart. Even now I can feel him thinking about me and worrying what you are going to do."

'_My God! They can feel each other's emotions already. What sort of bond is this?' _Molly thought.

"Can you hear what he is thinking?" She asked tentatively.

Ginny scrunched her face up in concentration. #_Harry? Are you there?#. _Very faintly she sensed a reply

#_Ginny, is that you? Where are you?#_

_#Don't worry Love, I'm downstairs, but I can hear your thoughts and I can sense your love#_

_#How is this possible? Hermione and Ron are looking at me funny#_

_#I don't know, I'll be up soon# _and with that she broke the connection.

Mrs Weasley had watched her daughter as she had thought to Harry. It was evident that she was having a silent conversation with him.

"Yes Mum I can" she exclaimed in am excited voice. "Why is that mum, why can I feel what Harry feels and hear his thoughts?"

Molly didn't answer her daughter straight away, but she just enveloped her daughter in a long hug.

"Oh Ginny, I'm so happy for you. He's perfect for you, but please don't rush things. Your both young and you've been through a very traumatic time. You will have all the time in the world together, but for the moment please remember you are still young. Leave the sleeping arrangements to me for the moment. In the meanwhile go and get ready for the day. Kingsley will be here very soon to escort us. Let's get this horrible day over with."

Ginny rushed up the stairs to find Harry, who was in Ron's room half dressed as she burst in.

"Harry! I could hear yo...Oh sorry Harry" she blushed as she found her boyfriend half naked. She immediately turned and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her, her face the same colour as her hair.

'_Oh how embarrassing'_ she thought '_but he doesn't half have a nice bum' _she giggled to herself at the thought.

_#Oi!, I heard that!# _she heard in her mind. Giggling insanely now she ran into her own room to an astonished Hermione.

As the morning progressed the mood had returned to the sombre mood of earlier as the family all sat in the kitchen awaiting the arrival of Kingsley Shacklebolt. The Minister was arriving with a small number of Aurors in order to escort the family as it was expected that there would be a lot of press attention, both for the family and for Harry. Harry had not been seen in public since the defeat of Voldemort and the press were getting desperate for an interview. Harry was sat in one of the chairs with a sad Ginny in his lap. Ron and Hermione were sat opposite with similar looks on their faces along with Charlie who was watching over the two young couples. Mrs Weasley and Percy were talking quietly by the stove. The coffin had arrived earlier and George, Bill and Mr Weasley were sitting with it in the lounge staring at it, not quite believing that Fred was inside it.

Suddenly the fireplace glowed green and flames shot up. Kingsley Shacklebolt and two men climbed out. The two men stood on either side of the fireplace as if on guard whilst Kingsley walked over the Arthur. He enveloped Arthur in a huge hug saying softly

"I'm so sorry Arthur. Fred was a fine man."

Arthur broke the embrace. "Thank you Kingsley and thanks for been here today."

The rest of the family had entered the lounge, alerted by the noise of the floo. Kingsley walked over the Mrs Weasley and embraced her. "Molly" was all he said, as she cried into his broad shoulders. After a short while she composed herself and Kingsley looked up at the rest of the group. He spotted Harry and walked over to him.

"Harry, how are you?"

Harry took hold of Ginny's hand and looked at the big man

"Getting there sir, thank you."

"Call me Kingsley Harry. Can I see you later; we need to talk about something."

Harry nodded and smiled a little. "Ok Kingsley, later"

Kingsley turned to the two Aurors and nodded to them. They both left the room to check the route ahead. Everyone knew that it was time to go and the six pall bearers gently lifted the coffin.

Harry had been asked to be one of the pall bearers, so along with Ron, Charlie, Bill, Mr Weasley and surprisingly Percy they carried Fred's casket out of the room and started the journey to the small church in the village a short distance away. George followed the coffin with his arms around his mother, followed by Ginny and Hermione. Kingsley brought up the rear of the group.

As they left the Burrow's grounds and moved to the small village road they found that the way was blocked by a large group of reporters most of whom were stood at the side the road respectfully but a small number were blocking the path. The two Aurors efficiently move them away to allow the sad group to pass. Even so they still were asking all sorts of questions to the group especially to Harry. As they slowly walked past ignoring the reporters, a short blond woman with tight curls and jewelled spectacles made her way to the front. Rita Skeeter took out her Quick-Quotes Quill and shouted loudly to Harry

"Harry, how do you feel about causing all these deaths?" The rest of the reporters gasped at the question and the funeral procession halted. Harry and all the Weasleys glared at the women with hatred in their eyes. Harry's eyes started to fill at the question as the guilt he felt came crashing down again. Harry so wanted to curse her but as he was holding the coffin he could not get his hands on his wand, so this was not possible. Rita was still stood with the Quill ready and a small tight smile on her face as she took in the glares coming her way, not only from the funeral group but from a large number of her fellow reporters. Harry glared at her in anger and pain desperately wanting to stun the horrible women.

All of a sudden there was a large bang and Rita flew backwards as if hit by a stunning curse. She landed in an untidy heap a few meters away from the group, unconscious but with a cloud of Bat Bogeys flying around her head. Everyone looked at Ginny but she was still stood with Hermione and no wand had been drawn, she did however have a very satisfied look on her face. The rest of the reporters started to laugh at Rita's predicament whist the Aurors tried to identify the person responsible, although they also had grins on their face so weren't looking too hard. After a short while no culprit could be found so the procession moved on. As they walked Harry heard in his head

_#Harry, no one else thinks that you are responsible for the deaths, just that evil women and her usual lies. Are you okay?#_

_#Ginny, I will be fine. Did you curse her with the Bay Bogey curse?#_

_#I think so Harry, I didn't have my wand out but I so wanted to and as I thought about it a warm feeling built up in me. Next thing I know she's covered in Bat Bogeys I didn't stun her though, was that you?.#_ Harry could hear the amusement in her thoughts at the memory.

_#Ginny I wanted to hit her with the Stupefy curse but could get my wand out. We both must of used wandless and no-verbal magic.#_ he replied in amazement. Harry could hear the astonishment in Ginny's mind. He had performed some wandless magic before but never both wandless and non-verbal, and as far as he knew this used to be beyond Ginny's capabilities. This was just another event that they would need to figure out, but his thoughts quickly turned to the day's events and no more was spoken about it.

The group arrived at the small village church where the ceremony would be held. Unlike a Muggle funeral, this was to be held outdoors in the adjoining graveyard. Anti-muggle wards had been set up and lots of chairs were positioned in rows. A large group of guests were already seated but they all stood as the procession arrived. As Harry carried the coffin to the front, he saw many of his school friends and teachers. Professor McGonagall sat with Professor Flitwick and Hagrid who was crying into his large beard. He passed Neville, who was sat with Luna and her father. As he passed Angelina Johnson he saw her reach out and squeeze George's hand. George briefly kissed her cheek and hugged her, but quickly moved on. George moved to the front row with his mother and Ginny and Hermione where they all sat.

The pall bearers sat the coffin on a low crystal table and respectfully moved to the sides, with their heads bowed. Kingsley moved to the front of the group and stood in front of the coffin. Slowly everyone sat apart from the six pallbearers who remained next to the coffin.

"My Friends, we are all here today to say goodbye to one of our best. We are all here free today because people like Fred believed that our very freedom was worth fighting for with his very life. I have known Fred since he was a small boy and in his short life he has made a very large impression on the world he has left behind. Some of us will remember him for the inventive pranks and jokes that he and George were responsible for, indeed his school teachers more than most."

At this Professor McGonagall gave a small sad smile and nodded to herself.

"Others, will remember the joy with which he and his bother lived there lives. I will remember all of these things but I will also remember that Fred was a very brave and determined young man who died fighting the great evil that had arisen in our world. Although he has left us to move on, we will never really have lost Fred as a little of him will remain in all those that he met so long as we keep him in our thoughts. I know his family will miss him greatly especially George, but my friends, Fred will be with you every moment of the day now and forever." Kingsley paused for a long while, fighting his own emotions. After a while he looked up again.

"George has asked if would be allowed to make a small speech; George"

George stood from his sobbing mother's side and kissed her gently on the cheek. She looked up at him and placed her hand on his cheek. George held the hand there for a while and then stood and moved to the front of the group. He briefly embraced Kingsley and the two shared a few brief words, before he turned to the group. He stood for a very long while, unable to speak, as his emotions got the better of him. After a while, Angelina stood and walked to his side and held him. He turned and smiled gratefully at her and straightened his back, turned to face the coffin but now with Angelina at his side he spoke.

"Fr...Fred, you were the best brother a man could ask for. Since we were small we did everything together. We laughed, ate, studied...a bit, joked and pranked together. We sometimes even loved together", he said with a cheeky grin. "But now you have left me to do the one thing we cannot do together and that's live. At first I didn't know how I was going to do that on my own, but then I realised that I wasn't on my own, and that I had my friends and my family with me. So I have decided that I will live and I will try to live well. I will live my life in honour of you and all the others that have died so we may be free to carry on." At this he turned to face the audience. "I know some of you here today will blame either yourselves or others here today for these deaths, but don't. Our friends, our family, our brothers and sisters, wives, husbands and children gave their lives willingly to fight Voldemort." He glanced at Harry as did a few others. Harry was stood with his head bowed, fighting a losing battle with the tears that were streaming down his face. George broke away from Angelina to go and hug Harry briefly before returning to Angelina and continuing his speech. "Let's not blame one another but let's keep fighting to make sure his evil remains dead and we remain free. I cannot and will not stay for the interment, that I cannot bear to watch, but I will end with the words of a man I read about in school. This man was a muggle author called Charles Dickens, you see Professor McGonagall, I did listen to some of the lessons. He wrote many books but I wish to end with these words that I think sum up Fred's life."

He took out of his pocket a small piece of parchment and opened it before reading,

"_It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done before; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever know."*_ He paused for a bit, a single tear coursing its way down his cheek.

"...See ya Freddy boy. Thought I'd give you a good send-off."

With that George walked with Angelina passed the seated mourners, as he passed the middle of the group, he took his wand and without turning around pointed it over his shoulder and cast a spell. As he continued to walk away hundreds of fireworks set off lighting the day with their colours. Even with the sunshine they could be seen for miles. Finally the last one lit up and took the form of a very large face. Fred Weasley looked down on the group laughing with his firework face. After George had gone, the six pall bearers gently lowed Fred's casket into the ground. Molly Weasley came up and gently dropped a single rose onto the wood. She stood for a while lost in her thoughts before turning and with Ginny and Hermione they followed George. With their wands drawn the six pall bearers filled the hole with earth and then magically made the grass reappear. A head stone appeared that read

**FRED WEASLEY**

**1 APRIL – 1978 – 2 MAY 1998**

**SON, BROTHER, FRIEND, HERO**

"**HE DIED SO WE MAY LIVE"**

The group turned and slowly followed the others back to the Burrow and to the gathering planned to allow their friends to say goodbye to Fred.

The rest of the day passed quickly. The wake started a sombre affair but very soon people were talking about the stuff that Fred and George would get up to and quickly laughter would spring up. Ginny spent most of the day at Harry's side, content to be with him as they chatted to their friends about Fred. Later in the evening Kingsley had asked to talk to Harry. After they had spoken Harry seemed a little distracted and wandered off. She moved to follow, knowing that he may need her and soon Ginny found Harry sat by the pond alone

"Harry, you okay?"

Harry looked up in surprise. "Ginny, shouldn't I be asking you that question?" Ginny smiled at the reply. "I'll be okay. It's been a hard day but I think it will get easier."

Harry nodded at her.

"What did Kingsley want with you?" Ginny asked.

Harry sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. After a short while, he looked at Ginny

"He wants Ron, Hermione and myself to come to the Ministry and explain what we did to the Wizengamot next week."

"Oh, well I guess that's to be expected. You going to be okay talking about it?"

"Gin, will you come with me? I'm not sure I can do it on my own"

"Harry, of course I will, you know you only have to ask. Will Kingsley let me?"

"Well, he better otherwise I'm not going" Harry stated with a smile. "He also mentioned something about helping Hermione find her parents. He went to speak to her about it."

Ginny looked at Harry for a while before sitting beside Harry and leaned her head on his shoulders. Harry put his arm around her and they sat for a while watching the sunset.

"That was a beautiful speech George gave." Harry stated

"I didn't know he had it in him "Ginny replied with a smile.

Harry thought for a while and then "I've thought about what he said. He's right you know, I owe it to all those who died to live my life and not spend it guilt-ridden and sad. It will be hard at first but I have decided that I want to live, and I want to live my life with you Ginny. No more guilt."

Ginny looked up into the emerald eyes looking at her. "Harry what are you saying?"

Harry smiled at her but replied in her mind

_#No I am not asking you that yet, we both need time first, but I am making you a promise. If you'll have me I'll be with you till then end of days.#_

_#Harry, of course I'll have you and when the time is right for ..er that, we will know#_

Harry leant down and gently kissed her, which she returned. It wasn't a passionate kiss, but a gentle loving one. They sat there holding each other until Ron came to get them for the evening meal.

Harry was right, it wasn't easy and as the week progressed they had to attend more funerals. Harry made it his mission to attend as many as possible, and at every one Ginny was by his side. Some were harder that others- Remus's and Tonks especially so. Here he meet his godson, Teddy for the first time as he was held in the arms of his grandmother. Andromeda was very sad but pleased to see Harry and Ginny. Harry asked to hold Teddy for the first time and Andromeda was only too happy to let him. Teddy seemed very pleased to see both Harry and Ginny and his hair kept alternating between black and red. Harry left promising to see Teddy very soon. As the week progressed and the funerals kept on coming Harry found the days very wearing but everywhere he went he was meet with the same kindness that George had shown him and the healing process finally began.

It was dark and late in the British Museum. John Gatesby was bored. He was one of the night guards employed to guard all the valuable exhibits held there, but nothing interesting ever happened. He was supposed to be patrolling the Egyptian area tonight but he was currently sat in the tea room nursing a large cuppa. He was reading a copy of "The Sun" and was keeping an eye on the late night telly that was showing some old western film. His break was over long ago, but he figured that the Egyptian mummies had been dead for thousands of years and had coped fine so another half an hour wasn't going to hurt.

As he sat there nursing his tea, his two way radio crackled into life.

"_John!... John are you there you lazy bugger? Over."_

John sighed at the sound of his supervisor voice. Ged Walters was younger than him but had been promoted over him due to his dad been on the board of governors for the museum. Even though they were all meant to go on patrol, Ged always gave himself the job of manning the CCTV control room.

"Yes Ged. I'm here. What's up?" '_You prat'_ he thought.

"_Over, you gotta say over, over"_

"Over" John sighed into the microphone

"_An alarm has been triggered in your section. Put down the tea and get off your fat arse and go have a look. Over and out."_

John looked guiltily at the small CCTV camera in the corner of the room, but pulled of a snappy salute to the camera. It was probably rats; it was always rats setting of the alarms. The place was running with the little buggers. He slowly made his way into the gloom to the Egyptian section of the museum. As he got closer he could see the flashing alarm near the Egyptian tablets section. He could also hear a voice mumbling to itself in a strange language. John suddenly felt very frightened. He had never encountered an intruder in his years. He slowly crept towards the exhibit, and watched as the man raised a short stick and pointed it at the re-enforced glass which seemed to ripple and shimmer. As he looked in astonishment the glass vanished and the man reached into the cabinet and removed a small black stone tablet. Just then his radio crackled

"_John you there yet? Over_" John desperately held his hand over the speaker but it was too late. The stranger had heard the noise and had looked up in John's direction. The stranger looked like a tramp, with odd spiky brown clumps of hair on his otherwise bald head. He smiled an odd nasty grin and John was aware of the evil glint in the man's eye.

"Such a shame you had to see this Muggle. Oh well, time to go"

The stranger pointed the stick at a mesmerised John and shouted "**AVERA KEDAVERA**!"

John saw the green light rushing towards him and then nothing as the blackness took him. Lucius smiled at the body and apparated away.

"_John, report. Where the hell are you. Report dam you! Over."_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 – Back to the Ministry**

"Harry! Harry! Wake up. It's only a dream" Ginny whispered to her Harry. It was the middle of the night and once again Ginny had been woken by Harry's nightmares. They had attended the last of the funerals the day before and this one was had been especially tough on Harry. It was the funeral of Colin Creevey, the young boy who so idolised Harry. What had made this one so hard for Harry were the looks of hatred he was getting from Colin's younger brother, Dennis. It seemed that Dennis blamed Harry for the death of his older brother and Harry had come away from the funeral in a bad state. He had tried to talk to Dennis after the service but Dennis had just snarled at Harry and walked away. Harry had been depressed about the event for the rest of the day and Ginny wasn't that surprised the find herself once more in one of Harry's nightmares. What had surprised her however was when she tried to creep out of her room and pad down to the room Harry shared with Ron, she was confronted with her mother standing in there doorway looking at her youngest.

"Er Mum, just off to the loo", she lied

Molly looked at her daughter with an amused look. And then said something that Ginny had never imagined she would ever hear her mother say to her

"Go to him love. I trust you."

Ginny was so surprised that tears formed in her eyes. She looked at her mother and just said "Thanks mum."

So here she was climbing into her boyfriend's bed. As soon as she had got to him his nightmares seemed to stop and through their mental link she could sense that his dreams were much calmer. She snuggled down next to him and was almost asleep herself when she suddenly blushed a bright red colour. She turned to look at Harry, who was smiling in his sleep and the contents of his dream were very evident.

"Oi! you, cheeky" she giggled to him even though he was still fast asleep, and with a satisfied smile on her face she drifted off as well.

Once more Harry awoke to see a pair of chocolate brown eyes watching him with an amused expression in them. Harry groaned

"Another nightmare?"

"Mmhuh" Ginny nodded

"And you in my bed again?"

"Mmhuh"

"And its morning isn't it?"

"Mmhuh"

Harry put his head in his hands and groaned again. Suddenly his head shot up at the sound of Ron moving over to them

"Oh No! Not again. What is it with you two? Mum is going to kill the pair of you when she finds out." Ron said with an odd smile. Just then, as if Ron had predicted the event, the door opened and Mrs Weasley was stood there. She smiled at the trio and said in a happy voice, "Breakfast downstairs you three. You've got to get to the Ministry this morning. Is he alright now Ginny?"

"Yes mum, alls fine. See you downstairs" Ginny replied with a grin.

Mrs Weasley looked at Harry, "I hope the nightmare wasn't too bad and that Ginny got to you in time dear." And with that she turned and left the room.

Ron and Harry gaped at each other, words not able to be formed. Finally Ron managed to engage his brain first

"What the bloody hell was that? How come you're not dead?"

"I. I.. I don't know."Harry answered but then noticed the grin on Ginny's face. "Er Gin?"

"Mum and I spoke, she's okay with it" she said with a smile.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, Ron was still too shocked to speak.

"Yes Harry I'm sure. I bumped into her last night on the way here and she gave me her approval. At this she turned to Ron whose mouth was still flapping like a fish. "That okay with you Ronald?"

She turned back to Harry and Harry could see a smouldering look in her eyes. He gulped a little, nervous all of a sudden. Ginny turned back to her still astonished brother. "Ron, do me a favour and bugger off"

Ron looked at her in amazement and turned a very red colour. Before he had chance to explode Ginny turned once more and gave him her very best glare. Ron looked at her for a while and then without saying a word left the room.

Ginny then turned back to Harry and very deliberately kissed him hard and passionately. Harry after a moment's hesitation returned the kiss with equal enthusiasm. As they kissed Harry felt emotions that he'd never felt before well up inside him. His hands, still under the covers, moved to hold Ginny and to his surprise his hand felt her skin as she was only wearing a short night top and her underwear. He suddenly became aware of the fact he was only dressed in his boxers. His hand moved slowly to her soft stomach and he gently held her, as she continued to kiss him.

_#Ginny, what are you doing to me?#_

_#Aren't you enjoying it Harry? I would have thought it was obvious what I was doing, I'm seducing you. And by the way, you can move your hand further up if you want to#_

Harry broke the kiss and looked at Ginny amazed. The look Ginny returned was one of longing and also one of love. _#Are you sure?#. _Ginny merely smiled and kissed him again. As she did so, Harry slowly moved his hand up, under her nightshirt until he came to her breast. He gently cupped it with his hand, amazed at the softness of the skin. Ginny moaned with pleasure, the kiss becoming even more passionate. Her hand slowly moved its way down his chest to his boxers and then...

"BREAKFAST EVERYONE!"

The couple broke apart with a jump, both looking a little flustered and sweaty. They looked at each other for a while and then giggled. "Come on lover boy, we'd better get dressed and downstairs."

As they entered the kitchen after hastily dressing, everyone looked up at them. Mrs Weasley had a knowing smile on her face and the rest were barely suppressing grins. It seemed that Ron had told them about the new sleeping arrangements.

"Morning dears, bacon?"

The pair sat at the long table, next to each other, both blushing. "Yes please" they both answered at the same time. At this even George spluttered a laugh into his pumpkin juice. The meal passed without further comment although there were many sniggers and knowing looks passed between the family. After a while Ginny was getting more annoyed with her brothers and father and finally snapped.

"Yes, Harry and I are in love. Yes, I spent the night in his bed. Yes, Mum knew about it. No, nothing happened, and even if it did its none of your business! Everyone okay with that?"

There were mumbles of "Yes Ginny" and breakfast resumed peacefully. As they were all clearing the pots away, and moving to get ready for their trip to the Ministry, Mr Weasley spoke up.

"Harry, can I have a word." Harry looked at Mr Weasley, who was looking stern and then he looked at Ginny. She smiled back and thought, _#It will be okay. He just wants to have a "father looking after daughter" talk. I know my mum has already spoken to him.#_

Learning this made Harry a little happier and he followed Mr Weasley out to the back garden. Mr Weasley made his way to a small bench and motioned for Harry to sit with him.

"Harry, you know that I think off you as a son, don't you?" Harry nodded, "I need to ask you something, something that when you are a father you will understand. Do you love my daughter?"

"Yes sir. More than anything."

Mr Weasley nodded, "I thought as much. Do you know what happened to the two of you when you were sick in the hospital wing at Hogwarts?"

Harry thought back to the time in question, "Well apart from what I told you all the other day, not much else. I know Ginny brought me back but it is a bit fuzzy after that."

"Molly tells me that you two can communicate telepathically, is that true?"

"Yes, Mr Weasley, and I can feel some of her emotions. Right now she's listening on our conversation."

_#Sneak!#_

Harry laughed at this, and Mr Weasley looked around slightly startled. "She spoke to you then didn't she?"

Harry grinned, "Yes sir, she's pretending she's cross with me, but she isn't really."

_#Ha, your sure of yourself today aren't you lover boy!#_

_#Shhh Gin. You'll get me into more trouble.#_

Mr Weasley looked at Harry as he was obviously talking to Ginny. "Do you know how rare that is amongst Wizards Harry?" Harry shook his head. "When Ginny brought you back, something else happened. When she kissed you something rare happened, and as a result you and Ginny are psychically bonded on a very strong level. We think you are soul mates, bonded for life. As time goes on the bond will get stronger and stronger. Even though you are both very young, you are effectively married; possibly even more than that. Do you understand Harry?"

Harry was stunned. He could sense that Ginny was also reeling from this news. "Mr Weasley, I honestly had no idea. I mean I knew we were very close but soul mates? Are you sure?"

"Harry, at this stage I think we can dispense with the Mr Weasley. Please call me Arthur, and yes we discussed it with Professor Dumbledore's painting and we all came to the same conclusion. You two are stuck with one another." He smiled. He then took on a more serious look, his eyes sad but almost pleading. "Harry, please look after my baby girl. She means everything to me and I would hate to see her hurt." His eyes had taken on a glassy look and Harry could sense that Ginny was crying as well.

"Mr Weasley...Arthur, I promise you that I will never ever hurt Ginny and I will stay with her for as long as I'm able. I promised her this and I make the same promise to you, one day I will hope to make her Mrs Potter, er that is with your blessing?"

Arthur put his arm around the young man, pleased that he loved his daughter so much. "Son, that's all I needed to hear. You have mine and Molly's blessing. You are already part of the family and this will make it even more so, but remember not to rush these things. Now let's get you to that meeting."

They walked back to the house but before they could get to the back door, it flung open and a red blur threw herself into Harry's arms and planted a long kiss on his lips.

_#Were soul mates!, Can you believe it? I love you so much Mr Potter.#_

_#And I love you too, Mrs Potter#_, Harry replied with a mental grin.

"Ahem!, do you two mind doing that later" Arthur suggested with a smile.

Ginny broke from Harry and blushed at her father. "Sorry Dad"

"Come on you two, Kingsley will be waiting for you."

The trio moved back to the house to prepare for the trip.

A little over an hour later Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mr Weasley flooed into the large atrium in the Ministry of Magic building. There had been a small disagreement when Ginny announced that she was going with Harry as Mrs Weasley did not want her to go, but Harry quickly said that if Ginny wasn't going than neither was he. So Mrs Weasley backed down and let Ginny go.

Once they had arrived and checked in at the security station they were met by a tall Auror in the main atrium area. He moved towards the group and introduced himself.

"Hello, I'm Gawain Robards, head Auror. You must be Harry." He put out his hand which Harry shook. Harry turned to introduce the others. When he got to Ginny, Gawain looked a little puzzled.

"Miss Weasley, we were not told you would be coming today."

Harry quickly intervened,"As I told Kingsley, Ginny's with me. Either she comes or I don't."

"Off course Harry. If you'd all like to follow me to the lifts, we will go to level ten and the main courtroom. There will be a full session of the Wizengamot today so there will be a few announcements before they ask you to talk. Harry, they will be speaking to mainly you, but Ron and Hermione will be allowed to speak as well. Ginny, I guess you can come along but please only speak if asked to do so. Mr Weasley, if you could come to, I've been told that the Minister wants to see you before the proceedings begin sir." Mr Weasley nodded to Gawain, and they all followed him to the main atrium.

The cavernous room was largely unaltered since the last time Harry was there, with the main difference been the large statue in the centre of the room. The previous time Harry was here is was two figures seated showing their dominance over all with the phrase "Magic is Might." However since the fall of Voldemort and the rebirth of the light, the stature now showed witch, wizard, muggle and centaur all facing together, hand in hand with each other with the phrase "Together we stand". The main atrium was very busy with witches and wizards going about their morning business so they were able to make their way towards the lifts without been noticed at first. However after a while people began to notice them and Harry could hear whispers of people noticing him for the first time.

"Is that him?, not as tall as I thought"

"Isn't he handsome, if only I was fifty years younger!"

"My son went to school with him, very good friends they are..."

At first Harry could ignore the comments, but as they walked and more people noticed him and people became bolder and started coming up to him, trying to shake his hand or touch him in some way. When a young blond witch ran up and smacked a large kiss on his lips that was enough for Harry and especially Ginny who very nearly hexed her right there. It was only through there mental link that Harry was able to placate her. At this point Robards signalled to a couple of Aurors to come and help and they started to move people away. As the group once more moved towards the lift a small child of about five ran through the Aurors and towards Harry.

"Mr Potter! Mr Potter please help us"

Harry stopped suddenly and looked at the small girl stood before him. She was very small and petite with mousey brown hair and bright blue eyes. She looked like she had been crying recently. Following behind her was a rather worried looking witch.

"Avril, Avril stop bothering Mr Potter. Come on dear we have to go home." As the witch rushed up to her daughter she looked at Harry.

"Sorry sir, I've tried to tell her not to run off but she's so headstrong, much like her father" as she said this Harry could see tears in the young mothers eyes.

"It's okay maam." Smiling he bent down to the small child stood in front of him. She was holding a small toy hippogriff in her arms that looked very well loved.

"Now young lady, what's your name?"

"Avril, Mr Potter. I'm five, this is my Hippogriff, he's called Mister Beaky"

"I have a friend who's a real Hippogriff. How can I help you Avril?"

"Can you find my daddy? He's went missing when the bad men came to our house. He tried to make them follow him so they would leave mummy and Mister Beaky alone, but now we cannot find him" tears had started to fall from Avril's eyes as she spoke. Harry felt his heart fall at the tale but he was instantly taken with the girl's plight knowing he had to grow up without a father.

"What's your daddy's name Avril?"

"He's called Stewart Pagan"

Harry looked up at the small girl's mother and over at Robards who had been watching the exchange with interest. Robards nodded slightly to Harry and mouthed "_Leave it with me" _Harry smiled and turned back to the small girl looking up at him.

"Avril, I will ask a good friend of mine to see if we can find your daddy but I cannot promise anything. You will have to be strong for your mummy and Mister Beaky"

"I will Mr Potter, thank you" and she hugged Harry. As Harry hugged the small girl back he suddenly felt a strange sense of foreboding. The air seemed to cool and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

_#Harry, something's wrong#_ Ginny's thought announced.

_#Yes, I can feel it too#_. Harry stood up to scan the large crowd that had built up but could not see anything. All of a sudden a dark cloaked figure leapt onto the base of the statue a few yards away and shouted in a loud voice "DEATH TO THE CHOSEN ONE – **AVERA KEDAVERA!**" Harry moved without even thinking to dodge the green streak of death, pulling Avril with him, shielding her with his own body. The killing curse narrowly missed him and struck the floor and rebounded and nearly hit Robards. It finally struck the far wall, causing a large hole to appear. As all this was happening Harry had cast a large golden shield over the group surrounding him and also sent a stunner towards the figure, who tried to cast a shield but Harry's stunner was far too strong for that and blasted the cloaked figure backwards where it crashed into the statue and lay non-moving. All of this was done in the blink of an eye and also people had noticed that Harry had not taken out his wand nor had he uttered a sound. Harry turned on his heels looking for another threat and as people looked at him they could see his eyes glowing an emerald green colour and the air around him was sparkling with magic. Ginny had joined him and the couple were back to back scanning the crowd, whilst both shielding Avril. Her eyes had started to shine a golden colour, but not quite as brightly as Harry's. As the pair soon realised that the threat was gone, they both relaxed. Harry removed the shield he had cast, allowing the Aurors to move and apprehend the figure on the statue. Robards moved to Harry.

"Harry, how in Merlin's name did you do all of that. I have never seen such strong wandless magic before and I have never seen anyone move so fast."

"I honestly don't know sir. Is everyone all alright?", as he asked this he realised that he was still holding Avril to his side, and he bent down to check her out. "Are you okay Avril," he asked her. Avril's eyes were shining and she had a massive grin on her face. "That was awesome! Can we do it again?" Harry laughed and shook his head to himself. Avril's mother had moved towards her daughter and took her in her arms. She looked at Harry, "Thank you Mr Potter, for everything."

"I'm sure we will find your husband Mrs Pagan"

The pair moved away, with Avril waving at Harry and Ginny. The Aurors had picked up the figure from the statue and brought the unconscious man to Robards, who moved back the cloak concealing the man's identity.

"Ennervate! Vincent Crabbe Sr. Only you would be so stupid to attack Harry in a room full of Aurors. Not that they did any good!" he growled the last sentence aware that his men had not even had time to draw there wands during the attack. "I hope you like prison food, 'cos that's what you'll be eating for the rest if your miserable life."

Crabbe Sr. was looking blearily at Robards all the while, comprehension finally dawning that he was going to Azkaban.

"Take him away! Come on you lot let's get away from this crowd before the press get here."

As the group moved off Ron looked at Harry in awe. "Harry that was bloody awesome, when did you become so good? Even You Know Who couldn't move that fast."

Harry smiled at Ron. "We'll talk about it later Ron and you can now say his name you know." As he was talking to Ron, he was thinking to Ginny

_#Gin, it's because of you love. I've remembered more of what Fred told me when I er.. you know died.#_

_#What did Fred say Harry?#_

_#Well he told me that my job wasn't finished yet, there is another evil in the world and we have to stop it#_

Harry could feel Ginny's fear at this statement and he tried to sooth her fears, sending waves of reassurance to her.

_#Don't worry love, we can sort this. Fred also told me that I was to be given a little boost to my powers, but he also told me that I was to share that power with someone else...#_

_#Who?#_

_#Go on Gin, guess#_

_#Me? You cannot mean me? I'm nowhere near as powerful as you are#_

_#Yes you are Gin, remember Rita Skeeter. You cast a wandless, non-verbal Bat Bogey at her. Could you do that before? Also how do you think we are 'talking'?#_

Ginny eyes widened at the thought.

_#But who is this evil? Why cannot it be all over Harry?#_

_#I don't know Ginny, but I've beaten one dark lord on my own. With you by my side I'm sure that we can get rid of another. Even if we cannot win this time, as long as I'm with you, it will be okay.#_

She looked at Harry and smiled and squeezed his hand. As she gazed into his eyes she said "I love you Harry."

As they walked Harry bent down and gently kissed her. "And I love you too. We'll talk more later. Let's get this over with."

The group had made it to the lifts. They entered a lift that an Auror had commandeered and descended to the bottom level of the Ministry. As they exited the lift Kingsley was waiting for them.

"Report Robards, I heard there was a problem." Robards gave his report to Kingsley who looked over at Harry with his eyes wide. As soon as Robards had finished Kingsley moved to Harry.

"Harry, I'm glad you are okay. I'm sorry that happened to you today, as you can imagine we are still trying to catch all of the Death Eaters. It was very brave of you to protect the girl and I promise you we will try to find her father. I will need to leave you all here for a short while whilst I go get ready for the meeting. Robards will show you to your seats and tell you what to do. Do you think you four can come and see me tomorrow so we can discuss the future and Hermione's parents?"

They all nodded, Hermione looking pleased that she would hopefully be soon re-united with her parents. Kingsley turned to Mr Weasley. "Arthur, if you would come with me, we have something to discuss." And he led Mr Weasley away leaving the four of them with Robards. The tall Auror lead them to a pair of large ornate doors.

"Okay you four, are you ready to face the Wizengamot?"

They all nodded and Robards opened the door.

"You four ready?"

"Yes" they all chorused.

**A/N Thank you everyone who has read my little story. I am very new to fanfiction, infact this is my first ever piece of creative writing since I left school over twenty years ago. Please leave a review. I hope to put Chap 8 soon, as well as work on my other story.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight –Wizengamot, and surprises.**

The doors opened to reveal the courtroom. Harry had been here before but then it was for his trial, this was a full session of the Wizengamot and nothing could prepare him for the sight. For one thing the room was much larger than the last time he had visited, with the seats rising high above the ground. Also the atmosphere was one of happy chatter rather than the sombre feeling Harry had felt when he was here on trial. The members sat today were wearing their very best robes, and because this was not a trial no one was wearing the stuffy black and red uniforms of the trial. The crowd was awash with bright colours and impressive hats.

Harry gulped as he took in the sights. He turned to Robards and whispered "Why are there so many of them, I thought that there was only fifty or so in the Wizengamot?"

"Normally yes, but today is a special meeting, and we are joined by members from other countries as well as the lords and ladies of the wizard world. We are even joined by some of the muggle leaders as this affects them as well. Come on you lot, let me show you to your seats."

Robards showed them to four seats near the front. They were marked as VIP seats and no one else was sat near them.

"Now I will stay here with you throughout the proceedings. When you are asked to speak do not worry about shouting, the magic in the room will allow all to hear your voices, and we have a translation charm as well so the delegates from other countries will be able to understand you, and you them, ok?"

They all nodded and sat down to await the proceedings. After a short while, a familiar face stood and banged a large gavel to bring the proceedings to a start.

"Witches, and Wizards, members of the Wizengamot, Lords, Ladies and friends, I bring this emergency session to a start and as the new chief Warlock I ask that the first order of the day is to formally elect a new Minister of Magic. I formally nominate Kingsley Shacklebolt as the new Minister of Magic. Who will second the nomination?" Minerva McGonagall asked. A short wizard stood and announced that he seconded the vote.

McGonagall spoke once more "Then we will put it to the vote, all those in favour?" A large number of people raised their wands and sparks shot out of them. The numbers were counted using a large magical set of scales. "All those against?" this time only a handful of wands were raised.

"The Ayes have it. I formally declare that Kingsley Shacklebolt to be the new Minster of Magic. If he could stand and address the room?"

Harry was delighted that his old house head had been given this most prestigious of roles and that once again a head of Hogwarts held the position.

Kingsley had stood to address the room. "My friends thank you for bestowing this honour on me today. I will work tirelessly to remove the remnants of the scourge that befell our society and make you a Ministry that you can all be proud off. To that end my first order of business is too announce my second in command as Deputy Minister. This is a new role that I feel will allow me to make the necessary changes quickly. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Arthur Weasley will be the Deputy Minister for Magic." Mr Weasley stood to a load round of applause, and also to the shout of "Yeah Dad!" from Ron. This elicited a rumble of laughter and Ron sat down his face bright red, but smiling broadly. Kingsley allowed the applause for a short while before carrying on with his speech.

"This is just the first of the changes that I will be making in order to create a fair and just Ministry, one which we can all be proud off. That brings me to the main reason for the meeting today. I am stood here speaking to you because a small of number of young witches and wizards along with teachers and Aurors who stood and fought the evil that Voldemort had created. A small number of their company fought and paid the ultimate price for our freedom and we will be honouring those at some other time, but many more lived to tell the tale. We are joined today by possibly the three most responsible for the victory and I have asked them to tell their tale so we will all learn from it and make sure such an evil is not allowed to fester in our society again. I am honoured today to introduce to you Mr Ronald Weasley, Miss Hermione Granger and Mr Harry Potter."

Harry and the others slowly stood, all embarrassed by the attention given to them. As the applause died down Harry started to talk. He began the tale with the revelation about the Horcrux's and the trip he and Dumbledore went on to find the locket. In passing he mentioned about the diary Tom Riddle had given Ginny, and went on to tell the tale of the search for the remaining items. All the while he was aided by Ron and Hermione who took up sections that Harry missed or was not present for. Harry again left out the part of the story where he was the master of the Deathly Hallows, but otherwise they told it all. All throughout the story Harry could feel Ginny's presence in his mind and every so often he would feel her hand take his for support. The gathered audience was silent throughout the entire tale although at points sobs could be heard from some of the people. As the story drew to a close Harry made his closing remarks.

"I know a lot of you think that I am the one solely responsible for killing Voldemort but that could not be further from the truth. Without the help and support of all those who fought I would of not stood a chance. Many people died that night and whilst I understand that they died fighting for what they believed in, a small part of me will feel guilty about their deaths for the rest of my life. I do not feel that I deserve any of the glory and fame that you wish to thrust upon me, I just want to live my life in peace with the people that are close to me and the woman I love." At this he looked down at Ginny and smiled. She beamed back at him, even though tears were rolling down her face at his words. Harry looked back up at the room and said "Thank you", and sat back down. There was silence for a long while whilst he words were digested and then one old and stooped wizard stood and said in a contemptuous voice, "Are we supposed to believe all of that! Three kids and a bunch of school kids defeated the Dark Lord? What a load of rubbish, this is the usual propaganda that the muggle loving so called Minister is famous for." As he spoke Harry had become all too aware of the build up of magic surrounding him, but this was not his doing but rather the small witch sat next him. He was also aware that the wizard had called Voldemort the "Dark Lord" which would only mean one thing. Robards had also picked up on this and had slowly started to move towards the old Death Eater.

The old wizard had now drawn his wand and was pointing it at Harry and his friends. This caused uproar in the room as people scrambled out of his way.

"The Dark Lord will rise again and never be defeated, especially not by a half blood whelp whose parents were so weak that they died within seconds of the Dark Lord confronting them, I will never..."

No one caught the last of his sentence as Ginny, finally pushed beyond her own limits stood. The very air around her was crackling with magic and a magical wind sprung up around her causing her hair to blow around her. With a slight gesture the old wizard suddenly found himself unable to speak or move as she silently cast a Body Bind spell. She magically snapped his wand into two pieces and slowly moved towards him. At this point Harry grabbed her and looked deep into her slightly glowing eyes.

"Ginny! Gin, it's okay, you can stop now"

Ginny slowly focused on Harry and the magic slowly died down surrounding them. Her eyes returned to normal and she smiled at him.

_#Sorry Harry, but he shouldn't have said those things about you, and he must be a Death Eater#_

_#Gin, I know, look Robards has already got some Aurors to arrest him.#_

Ginny hugged Harry who kissed her briefly on the lips. As the assembled crowd looked on at the scene one by one they all stood and started the clap. The noise grew louder and louder until it was deafening. Ron had gone beet red with embarrassment and held Hermione's hand tightly, whist Ginny and Harry continued to hold each other. After a while and once Robards had removed the offending wizard, Kingsley stood once more. Slowly the noise returned to normal and people took their seats waiting for the Minister to speak.

"First, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny, thank you for coming and speaking to us today. I would like to apologise for the rude interruption. It would seem that we had not managed to remove all of the Death Eaters from our presence and I will endeavour to make sure that all are caught and punished for their crimes. Miss Weasley, thank you for restraining the person in question and for that impressive display of magic. I have decided that in four weeks time we will hold a memorial service for those who lost their lives, as well as an opportunity to thank those who fought at Hogwarts School. It would give me great pleasure if you four would be our guests of honour for the day. I know you would rather not be the centre of attention but I can assure you, that this will be the only such function. And now if you would excuse us we need to talk about more mundane matters and I'm sure that you would rather be going home then listening to us drone on" he said with a grin. With a small gesture, Robards moved to the four and showed them the way out of the room.

As Robards closed the door behind him he turned to the four with a grin on his face.

"Well that went well I think. Liked the ending the best though. Good work Ginny. Come on let's get you lot home."

"Can't we just apparate back home sir?" Ron asked.

"Ron, you know that there are very strong anti-apparition wards placed here. You can only apparate when the wards are down." Hermione lectured. Ron rolled his eyes slightly earning a thump to his shoulder from Hermione, although she was smiling at the time.

"Okay I guess we do this the long way round. Let's get moving, I'm starving!"

Everyone laughed at this comment and moved towards the lift. Once they got to the main atrium instead of the usual scene of people going about their work, the atrium was full with press reporters all trying to get to the foursome. They were practically ripped from the lift and quickly lost Robards who was left trying to get some sort of back up to help him.

"Mr Potter!", "Mr Potter over here!"

"Harry dear can you spare us a moment."

"Is this your girlfriend?, what about Miss Grainger?"

"Can we take your photograph?"

The questions were endless and Harry could sense Ginny becoming frightened by the heaving crowd confronting them. Ron had grabbed Hermione with one hand and had the other holding Harry's arm for fear of been separated. "We need to get out of here mate!"

"I know Ron; let's try to make it to the floos."

"Ok, but that's not going to be easy" Ron practically had to shout to be heard over the noise.

"Harry, I'm scared. Can we go home now?"

Harry felt his anger growing. Where the hell were the Aurors? Who let this lot in here? As his anger grew his eyes began to shine and once more the air became charged with magic. He had to get them out of there so he grabbed Ginny's hand and shouted to Ron "Hold on mate". With that he closed his eyes and thought about the Burrow and how much he wanted to be there. Suddenly he felt the feelings of been sucked down a tube and with a slight 'POP', they all landed on the kitchen floor of the Burrow in an untidy heap.

"Harry, how the fuck did you do that mate?" Ron swore, earning another thump on the shoulder, harder this time.

Hermione looked at Harry "Harry that's impossible, you cannot apparate through wards like that, and with three other people in tow? Not even Dumbledore could do that!"

Harry was exhausted; he blinked at Hermione a few times and then collapsed onto a chair. He held his head in hands breathing heavily. Sweat was pouring from him and he felt on the verge of collapse.

"Honestly Ron, I have no idea. I feel crap though!"

Molly Weasley had heard the commotion from upstairs where she was cleaning the bedrooms, and had rushed down, wand drawn. As soon as she saw the teenagers however she sheathed her wand and started to fuss in her usual way by making lunch. Harry quickly fell asleep as he was so exhausted. He woke to find Ginny snuggled up to him, dozing and Ron and Hermione playing chess. Molly was in the kitchen still fussing over cooking. Harry felt much better and almost back to his usual self. As he woke he moved and Ginny looked over at him.

"Feeling better love?"

"Yes dear, much better and very hungry. How long have I been asleep?"

"Only about twenty minutes, Mum says lunch will ready soon."

Hermione, listening to the conversation spoke up "Harry, after that amount of magic, you should have been asleep for hours. Your magic must be getting really strong!"

Harry decided that his friends needed to hear some of what he knew. He felt Ginny take his hand, knowing what he was about to say.

"Guys, when Fred and I talked, one of the things he mentioned was that my powers were to be given a bit of a boost, plus because I've lost my scar, my own powers have been allowed to grow."

Ron looked at Harry slightly enviously "Cool mate, but why now? You've got rid of old Voldy, what do you need more powers for?"

Harry looked first at Ginny, who smiled at him and squeezed his hand tighter, and then he looked over at Ron and Hermione. "Guys, I'm really sorry to tell you this, but it's not over. I've been told that we have to fight again and that another evil Wizard is coming."

Hermione had moved to hold Ron, both looking at him in horror. "Oh no! oh gods! Why us, I mean haven't we done enough, it's not fair!" she cried.

Harry laughed, although there was little humour in it, "It's funny, I asked the same question."

"Well what was the answer?"

"I was asked who else would I trust to sort it out" Harry replied smiling at the memory.

Hermione looked at Harry and then closed her eyes and sighed heavily. "Oh well, here we go again."

Lunch was a quite affair, all of the teenagers lost in their own thoughts. Ginny as always was sat close to Harry; the pair unconsciously holding hands whilst they ate. Unknown to Ron and Hermione they were talking to each other as they ate.

_#Well that went better that I thought it would. I was worried that Ron would freak out and Hermione would run for the books, but they just accepted it. They are fantastic friends, I owe them so much Gin.#_

_#They love you both, and I love them as well, although if you ever tell Ron that I'll kill you! Harry we need some fun. I know it's been a rough week but we need to blow off the cobwebs.#_

Harry thought about it and knew she was right.

"Guys, let's play some Quidditch!"

The afternoon was spent playing an impromptu Quidditch game with Ron, Charlie and Ginny on one team with Harry, Bill and Hermione making up the other. George had elected to watch, not wanting to play just yet without Fred. Hermione had protested at first as her dislike of been on a broom was well known, but surprisingly she wasn't as bad as she made out, so long as she didn't fly too high. Harry and Ginny were very well matched as seekers, Ginny was on a slower broom but she was lighter than Harry. Harry found it very difficult to beat her until he realised she was reading his mind and knew what move he was going to pull so matched it every time. As soon as Harry realised this he grinned at her and put up his mental shield and promptly caught the Snitch. Ginny scowled at him and stuck out her tongue at him. On the rematch she won and the match after that. By the time the sun was setting it was 4 games apiece and the ninth game was just about to start when Mrs Weasley called them in for the evening meal. Everyone agreed that it was a great afternoon and just what they all needed. The evening meal was as good as ever, as they all celebrated the promotion of Mr Weasley, and they all retired to the lounge to sit and talk, feeling a little woozy from the shots of fire-whisky they had shared to celebrate. As the day grew to a close however, Harry was in for a bit of a shock.

He stood up from the lounge to go to bed, Ginny, Ron and Hermione accompanying him when Mrs Weasley announced, "With Bill going back to Shell Cottage, Hermione if you don't mind I've moved you up to Percy's old room. Ron you're with Charlie. Night everyone."

Harry was puzzled and a little hurt. Where was he to sleep? Oh well, he'd just go and get a blanket and sleep on the sofa. He slowly followed the others up the steep stairs. He could sense Ginny was finding something very funny but wasn't broadcasting to him what it was. As they got to Ginny's room he kissed her on her cheek, mumbled "Goodnight" and moved to follow Ron to get a blanket. Ginny grabbed his hand and pulled him towards her. Ron and Hermione, guessing what was happening smiled at the confused Harry.

"Night Harry, see you tomorrow." They both chuckled.

"Come on you, let's get to bed lover boy" she opened her door and Harry eyes goggled. Her bed had been transfigured into a large double bed and his belongings had been moved to the room. Ginny tried to pull him into the room but Harry was routed to the spot. Unseen by the teens Mr Weasley had followed them up and moved to Harry. "Go on son, get to bed. Please remember our earlier conversation though." Ginny smiled and kissed her father on the cheek. "Thanks Dad. I love you" She pulled Harry's arm a little harder and like a zombie he followed her to the room. Ginny shut the door and stood in front of Harry. She snaked her hands around his neck and gently kissed him. She then moved to undress causing Harry to whirl around, facing away from her whilst she changed to her night clothes. He heard the bed covers move and could tell that she had got into bed.

"Well, Harry are you just going to stand there all night or are you coming to bed?"

Harry finally found his voice, turning to see Ginny in the bed looking all the world like the cat that had got the cream. She was sat in bed, wearing a baggy T-shirt, her hair flowing around her shoulders. Harry had thought that she had never looked more beautiful as she did in that moment.

"H..How? what? Erm…what just happened?"

"Isn't it obvious? Mum and Dad have decided that we can share a room. I mean we always seem to end up in bed with each other anyway, so they figured they might as well let us share. Mum did however tell me that sleeping was the only item on the menu. So come on lover boy, get into bed."

Harry moved to his trunk and lifted the lid to find his night shorts. Using the lid as a screen and much too Ginny's giggles, he changed for bed and climbed into bed. Having never shared a full size bed with anyone before he wasn't used to the room, but before long he moved over to hold Ginny who sighed in contentment. He kissed her shoulder and before long they were both asleep. Harry had one of the best night's sleep that he could remember.

**A/N Please review**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine – Wizards meeting and Goblins.**

When Harry woke the following morning it was to the sight of Ginny fast asleep next to him. Harry felt enormously happy and spent a long while just gazing at his girlfriend sleeping. She looked just perfect to him with her fan of red hair spread around her. After a while Ginny opened one eye and peered at Harry

"Are you going to stare at me all day Harry?" she joked

Harry grinned back at her "Well as nice as it would be to stay here all day, I'm pretty sure Kingsley would be a little embarrassed when he has to come to your room for our meeting, especially with you just wearing your night-shirt" as he was talking he moved his hand to her stomach, under the previously mentioned night shirt, and proceeded to move his hand to her breast, once more eliciting a low moan from Ginny as she enjoyed the sensations. Ginny moved to kiss Harry which quickly deepened to a long passionate kiss. Breaking apart, Ginny's breathing had become very ragged and in a raspy voice she said "Harry, I love you, but if we don't stop soon I might not be able too, and we promised my parents." Harry reluctantly moved his hand, but once more kissed Ginny, this time with a tenderer kiss. He gently traced the line of her face and played with a tendril of her hair. After a short while they decided that they ought to get up and dressed. Harry went to the bathroom first and dressed there before allowing Ginny to do the same. Before she left she cheekily turned to him and said, "You do know I wouldn't mind if you dressed in her with me. I've no problem with dressing in front of you."

Harry turned to her and with a grin threw a pillow at her, which she ducked easily. "If you do that Gin, I might have to forget the promise I made your Dad." Ginny smiled at him.

_#Right answer Lover Boy!#_, and with that she went to the bathroom to wash and dress.

A short while later the two of them joined Ron and Hermione in the kitchen for a quick breakfast. They were all going to the ministry today for their meeting with Kingsley. After the events of the previous day, Kingsley was going to allow them to floo directly to his office. The floo would only be connected for a short while so at exactly 10:30 the four teens found themselves in Kingsley's office dusting themselves off from the floo ride. Kingsley was sat at his large desk with four comfy looking chairs waiting on the other side. Kingsley stood to great his guests.

"My friends, it's good to see you. Please have a seat; can I get you anything to drink?"

After they had ordered there drinks, Kingsley sat back at his desk and looked at the four of them with a warm smile.

"First of all, thank you for speaking to us yesterday. I can tell you Harry that your story shocked a lot of people and I'm afraid that you are more of a hero to them than you were before."

Harry sighed at this, but wasn't all that surprised. Kingsley continued to speak,

"I would also like to apologise for both the events before the meeting, and during the meeting. Both men have been arrested and will stand trial soon. I also understand that there was a small altercation with the press when you tried to leave. I find myself having to apologise to the four of you again. Apparently you were seen to apparate away, and this is causing us some concern as no one else has been able to do so through the wards. Could any of you shed any light on this?"

Ron, Hermione and Ginny were reluctant to mention that it was Harry who had performed this feat, but Kingsley was sat looking at all of them with an expectant look on his face. Hermione was the first to speak, "We are not sure how it happened sir, we did discuss it yesterday but..."

Harry interrupted her, "Kingsley, I was the one who grabbed the others and side-apparated them all. We got separated from Mr Robards, and the crowd was getting a little too close. I told everyone to hold on and apparated us all home. I could feel the wards in place but they did not seem to stop me. I'm sorry sir, if I did wrong but we needed to get away."

Kingsley gazed at Harry in awe. Did the kid side-apparate three other people through wards that even their best Aurors couldn't get through? He knew that Harry was a powerful wizard but this was astonishing. Kingsley looked at Harry with new respect.

"Well, we will have to get Robards to speak to you about it later, he send his apologies by the way. He was very distressed that he lost you and was very angry with the press. He's been in a bad mood ever since. Anyway, there were a few things that I wanted to speak to you about. As I mentioned yesterday, we are planning on holding a memorial service at Hogwarts School. I was hoping if you would be willing to give a short speech Harry. I know you don't want the lime-light, but I promise you that this will be the only official event we will hold and everyone would find it a comfort of you could tell them why and what their loved ones died for."

Harry had been dreading and expecting this in equal measure. His first instinct was to refuse, he had enough of people starring at him, but when Kingsley asked him to talk on behalf of the fallen he found that he could not say no.

"It would be an honour to speak sir. This will be the last time I wish to speak formally about the events, but I..we owe so much to those that fell, I have to do this."

Kingsley smiled a sad smile at this. "All of the fallen will be awarded the Order of Merlin, first class. We will try to get all the families there to receive the awards. You three will also be awarded the Order of Merlin, first class and Miss Weasley second class, along with a few others. Before you all object," He stated as he could see words of protest forming all the teens' lips, "this decision has already been made at the highest level, it would be rude if not impossible to refuse. "He said with a smile.

The four looked at each other wordlessly. Finally Ron spoke up. "We all would be honoured to accept. Mum will be so impressed!" Everyone laughed at Ron's last comment.

"On to other matters. Hermione we have found your parents. They are living in a small town called Geelong near Melbourne. They have bought a small dental practice and a small house along the coast. You will need to go to them to break the memory charm, Hermione."

Hermione looked very happy that her parents had been found. "How do I get to Australia to do that sir?"

Before Kingsley had time to answer, Harry spoke up. "Not 'I' Hermione but 'we'. You didn't think that after all we've been through we would let you do this on your own did you?"

"Well, I hoped but didn't want to assume. Will you all come with me?" Hermione replied with a small voice.

"Off course we will dearest, you don't even have to ask." Ron replied. Hermione looked at her three friends and with a low cry moved to hug them all. "Thank you." After a short while, she composed herself and looked over at Kingsley, who had watched the interplay with a smile on his face. "How will we get to Australia, it's too far to apparate isn't it?"

"Yes Hermione, no one is capable of apparating so far in one go, you could apparate in short jumps, but that would be very tiring and time-consuming. You cannot floo that far and broomstick would be very arduous. No the best way to get there is to use Muggle transport and to fly."

Harry and Hermione just nodded but Ron and Ginny looked shocked. "You mean we have to go on an arriplane?" Ron asked, "Are you sure they are safe. I've heard they are made of metal, and they have no magic in them, they use an ingine. How do they fly?"

Hermione sighed. "Ron they are called aeroplanes and they use engines. Yes they are very safe. I have flown many times with my parents, although I've never been as far as Australia." She turned to look at Kingsley. "What will we do about passports, I mean I have one, but I don't think Harry has, and I know that Ron and Ginny won't. Also what do we do when we get there?"

Kingsley smiled to himself, he'd guessed that the other three would not let Hermione do this on her own, in fact he'd already spoken to Arthur about Ron and Ginny going with her, and off course sadly there was no one for him to speak to about Harry. Arthur had been happy about it but it took a little convincing to keep Molly happy. He reached into a drawer and pulled out three UK passports which he passed to the young people in front of him. "I asked the Muggle Prime Minister to help me out and he got the muggle Home Office to help.

Ron and Harry glanced at the passports but Ginny shrieked loudly when she read the name on hers. "Ginevra Potter! Why am I called Ginevra Potter, I seem to off missed my wedding day!"

Kingsley looked a little embarrassed. "I would appreciate you not telling your mother that bit Ginny. As you know you are nearly seventeen and will become an adult in the Wizarding world, but in the muggle world you have to be eighteen to be an adult, although you can marry at sixteen. It was felt that it would be simpler for you to appear married in order for the airline company to be happy about you flying without your parents."

Ginny looked at Harry with a mischievous look.

_#Hey Hubby!, it seems I really am yours!#_

Harry laughed although he did look a little wild around the eyes. Everyone else looked puzzled as to why Harry had laughed aloud

_#Shall we tell them?#_ Harry thought. Ginny nodded.

"Erm, It turns out that Ginny and I can hear each other's thoughts when we want to. According to Arthur, it's because we are soul mates."Harry replied blushing slightly as he spoke.

"Cool!" Ron replied, "I was beginning to wonder what all those long silences were for between you two."

"I'm very happy for you two. Do you know how rare that is, according to Hogwarts – A History, only a few couples have ever been able to communicate like that. The first recorded couple was..."

Harry held up his hands in mock supplication. "Can we do this another time Hermione, I'm sure Kingsley has other people to see today." Hermione blushed a deep red, but smiled back at Harry. Kingsley chuckled in his deep laugh

"I see that putting Ginny's surname as Potter was the right thing to do. Please make sure that when you make it official I get an invite. Congratulations you two on such a rare union."

"Kingsley, you will only get an invite if you agree to perform the ceremony yourself. " Ginny replied

"I would be honoured Mrs Potter. Anyway to answer Miss Grangers other question, The Australian ministry is unable to supply anyone to help you when you arrive. I can supply you with your parents address and I would suggest that you make your own way there. Can any of you drive a muggle car?"

They all shook their heads at the question. "Not to worry, we've got a special program here that means you can learn in just a few days. We'll get two of you through it; I would suggest Harry and Hermione as you are both happier with Muggle technology. Once you get to Melbourne you need to hire a car and drive the short distance to Geelong. Once you get there you can reverse your parent's memories and I would suggest a nice holiday as well."

"How are we going to afford to do all that?" Hermione wondered aloud.

"Ah yes, money. It seems that Gringotts are a little annoyed with the three of you. Both Ron and Hermione have been banned from entering, as has Harry, but I have convinced the head Goblin to meet with Harry this afternoon as there is a lot to discuss. He has agreed to this and hopefully you will be able to come to an arrangement, it seems they wanted to discuss your inheritance with you. They seemed a little startled about something, but would not discuss it with me. I'm sure that once it's all sorted you three will be allowed back in."

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, "Guys once we get this sorted, please let me pay for the trip. I really want us to have a good time and it would mean a lot to me if you would let me sort this out. I owe you two so much and if we can have a good holiday and find Hermione's parents in to the bargain then that's got to be good."

Ron and Hermione looked at each other for a while. Harry was aware that Ron in particular didn't like not been able to afford much, but after a while they both agreed.

"Good, that's sorted then. I will tell the Head Goblin to expect you at one o'clock this afternoon. I assume that Miss Weasley..sorry Mrs Potter will be accompanying you?"

"Ha, ha Kingsley, very funny. Yes Miss Weasley will be coming with me. Ok, are we done sir?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Three more things Harry. First thing is your futures. I'm sure that Miss Weasley will be going back to school in September. Professor McGonagall assures me that Hogwarts is nearly repaired and all will be well for the new term. She has also said that anyone who missed the last year or anyone who wished to retake the year will be allowed to do so. I wanted to ask you three what you wanted to do."

Hermione immediately piped up "I need to redo my seventh year sir. I need to take my NEWTS as I need them if I want to work in the ministry."

Ron sat and thought for a while. "I don't think I'm going back sir." As he said this he saw the sad look on Hermione's face. "Love, you know I'm not that academically gifted. And it would be weird to go back to school after, you know, the year we've had."

"What are you going to do Ron?" she asked

"George and I have been speaking about opening a shop in Hogsmeade. He asked if I would like to run it for him, as he will be busy running the one on Diagon alley. I would be staying above the shop so I would be very close and we can see each other whenever we want." He took Hermione's hand and smiled at her. She looked a little happier about the situation, but clearly the conversation would continue in private later.

"What about you Harry?" Kingsley asked.

"I'm not sure sir. I want to become an Auror, so I know I need to pass my NEWT's, but it would be strange going back."

"Harry, Professor McGonagall and I guessed you would feel this way. She has asked if you would come to the school sometime to meet her. She has a proposal to put to you before you make any decision."

"Sure, that would be good. How about tomorrow?"

"I'll arrange it with her and get her to send you an owl with the details. The second item, I know that the three of you have been doing it for months now, but do you suppose that you could get an apperation licence please. Technically it's illegal to apparate without one and although no one is willing to arrest you, I'd rather you get it sorted. I've booked you all in for tomorrow morning, although Ginny, you will have to be taught first. Now to the last item, and it's a bit of a sore subject... Draco Malfoy"

"What about the slimy git?" Ron asked, earning an elbow in the ribs from Hermione.

Kingsley merely smiled back before continuing. "As you know, his mother was killed by his father on the day of the battle. Lucius has been tried in his absence and if caught will face the Dementors kiss. Draco however will be tried later this week, and he has asked if you, Harry would testify for him. Apparently he is saying that he did not turn you in when you were prisoners at Malfoy manor."

Harry bristled at the memory, yes it was true that Malfoy's silence kept him from Voldemort, but it also caused Hermione to be tortured at the hand of Bellatrix. Harry was certain that Draco did not want to be involved towards the end, but he seemed a willing participant in the beginning.

"Why me Minister?"

Kingsley looked slightly uncomfortable for a moment before he spoke. "Well Harry, it has something to do with what the Goblins need to speak to you about. As you know Draco has no parents, now that his mother is dead and his father has been convicted. It seems that Narcissa left a will and in it she states that the custody of her son will fall to the last remaining male heir of the Black family. I'm guessing that she never updated it after Sirius died, but as things stand, you are Draco's guardian."

Harry looked at Kingsley in astonishment. "? I'm Malfoy's guardian?" The other three were looking at Harry is total disbelief. Harry was sat with his mouth flapping, no word been articulated. This continued for a few minutes until a small snort of laughter came from Ginny. This grew to a longer laugh, soon to be joined by Ron. Suddenly all three of them were crying with laughter. Hermione pointed at Harry's face. "L. at his face! I've never seen him look so surprised." She laughed, the tears falling down her eyes.

"Come on guys, it's not funny!" Harry whined at the three laughing friends. Even Kingsley had a smile on his face and was trying not to laugh.

"It is a bit mate; you're the weasel's dad!" Ron sniggered, causing more laughter to erupt from the trio. Even Kingsley burst out laughing at this statement. Harry looked at the others all laughing and found himself smiling, which turned into a grin. Soon he was laughing at the situation with the others. After a while he calmed himself and looked at Kingsley.

"Does Draco know? How did he react?"

"Well he wasn't pleased at first as you can imagine, but after a while he figured that you might help him a little."

"Where is he now?"

"He's been held in custody here until the trial. To be honest with you, I think he will only get a light sentence. He's changed since you last met him and I think the judge will give him a second chance."

Harry thought about it for a while. At first he had thought he could use the situation to get his own back on all the horrible things Malfoy has said and done to him and his friends over the years, but after a while he realised that these were childish concerns and it was time to put childish things behind him.

"Okay Kingsley, I'll speak on his behalf. Let me know the details. Are we done for today?"

"Yes Harry, you'd better get to Gringotts, I'm sure you're going to enjoy the surprise."

Ron and Hermione had flooed back to the Burrow, saying that they were going for a walk, although Harry suspected this to be a rouse. Harry and Ginny apparated from the main lobby to Diagon alley to grab some lunch before their meeting at Gringotts. They happily walked hand in hand to the Leaky Cauldron to eat, talking about the turn of events regarding Malfoy. After a pleasant lunch they briefly called in at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes but found that whist the shop was open, it was been run by Verity as George was still unable to bring himself to work there. They chatted for a while before leaving to go to Gringotts for their appointment.

Harry felt nervous about entering the bank and it took some encouraging words from Ginny before he could mount the stairs to the entrance. As soon as the pair entered the bank, they could feel many eyes focused on them. The animosity was palpable as they walked slowly to the main desk. An area of the main floor was cornered off due to a large gaping hole in it, testament to the Golden Trio's escape not that long ago. An elderly Goblin was on duty, and from his high desk he peered silently down at the young couple. After a long while Harry decided he would have to break the silence

"Er, I have an appointment at half one with the Head Goblin. My name is Harry Potter"

The Goblin, looked impassively down at Harry. "Yes, we know who YOU are! If it was up to me we would not let thieves like you in the bank, but your Minister spoke well of you. I will let Griphook know that you are here. You may sit over there" he said indicating a pair of uncomfortable looking chairs in the corner. Harry and Ginny silently moved to the chairs.

_#You okay Harry?#_

_#Yeah, just a bit nervous that's all. Last time I was here, well you know..#_

_#I know Harry, it's going to be fine. Did you hear the name that old git called the Head Goblin?#_

_#It seems that our old friend, Griphook has been promoted. That may be off help to me.#_

Harry could tell that Ginny was becoming mischievous with her thoughts.

_#Hey Daddy Malfoy!, how's it feel to have such a lovely son as Draco?#_

_#Oh Ha Ha Ginny. As were soul mates, doesn't that make you his mother?#_

Ginny screwed her face up in disgust at the thought. "Euuuww" she said aloud, "That's a horrible thought." Harry smiled at her face and was about to tease her some more when Griphook walked over to the pair of them.

"Mr Potter, Mrs Potter, if you would like to follow me we can get this meeting sorted."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at the name used for her and looked curiously at Harry who merely shrugged his shoulders.

They both stood and followed the diminutive Goblin to his office. Griphook took his seat on one side of the large desk and Harry and Ginny sat at the other, both aware that there chairs were much lower than that of the Goblins. Griphook took out a pair of glasses and perched them on his nose and opened a large ribbon-bound folder.

"Ahem, this is the file for Harry James Potter. It is the combination of a number of inheritances and vaults. Before we go into detail about the contents we will need to resolve the issue of you and two accomplices breaking into Gringotts and stealing one item, as well as damage caused by your escape and the loss of our dragon."

Harry was very surprised to hear that there were a number of inheritances, he was only aware of his vault left by his parents, and the Black inheritance. He was also a little put out that Griphook failed to mention that he helped Harry and his friends break in.

"Due to you been a very important customer, Mr Potter, we have decided to drop all charges for all persons involved, provided that you pay for the damage caused. This will come to the total of 1,278,034 Galleons, including labour. If you do not pay this then we will issue a lifetime ban to Miss Hermione Jean Granger, Mr Ronald Bilius Weasley and yourself, Mr Harry James Potter."

Harry was shocked, over 1 million Galleons! He knew he owned al lot of money but that would surely bankrupt him.

"Do I have sufficient funds to cover the fine?" he asked nervously

"Indeed, Mr Potter, Indeed."

"And will no charges or fines be issued to Ron or Hermione?"

"No all matters will be dropped Mr Potter."

"In that case, I agree to the fines."

"Good, the funds are been withdrawn from your vault as we speak. The ban against Mr Weasley and Miss Granger has been lifted. They will receive and owl informing them of this. Now onto more pleasant matters. Mr Potter as you know you own both the Potter family vault and the Black family vault. What you may be unaware of is that you own the contents of two other vaults. These are the Le-strange vault, and one that was a bit of a surprise to us. It seems that you are the sole living heir to the Gryffindor family vault, and as such you also have access to this vault. This also allows you the title of Lord Gryffindor. Also due to your recent Soul Bonding I am pleased to tell you that Mrs Potter or Lady Gryffindor, also has full joint ownership too of your assets."

Harry looked at Griphook stunned, he could feel Ginny's hand tighten in his own at the news; as well hear a dirty laugh in his head at the news.

_#I own all your assets, Lover Boy!#_ she sniggered. Harry chose to ignore her and looked back at Griphook.

"What? How?" he stuttered.

"We were made aware of your Soul-Bonding the moment it happened and Mrs Potter's name appeared on all the ledgers, as to the Gryffindor vault, well we were alerted to the fact when the vault unsealed itself last month. We checked the ledgers and we found that you are his only living heir."

"May I know the contents of the vaults?"

"Yes Mr Potter, the Potter vault contains.."

"Yes Mr Griphook, I have been in the Potter vault, I was referring to the other three."

"Mr Potter, you misunderstand. The only vault you have visited was your trust fund vault. This was a small fraction of the contents of the Potter Vault. If I may continue; The Potter vault contains 66,678,023 Galleons and a number of sickles. It also contains a large number of items of jewellery, furniture and a few small personnel items addressed to you. The Black vault contains 10,453,784 Galleons and few items of jewellery. You are aware of the contents of the Le-Strange vault, but the total is 2,567,324 Galleons in assorted coins and jewels. The Gryffindor vault contains 124,345,985 Galleons as well as a few weapons, suits of Armour and assorted jewels and jewellery. "

Harry face had frozen in shock, words were impossible for him. He could feel however, similar emotions emanating from Ginny.

"In addition," Griphook continued,"you also hold the deeds to a number of properties. A few you are aware of such as 12 Grimmauld Place and Godric's Hollow, but a few are unknown to yourself. There is Potter Cottage, where your parents and family have lived for generations before your parents had to buy the cottage at Godric's Hollow. You also own a small cottage in the south of France as well as a small flat in London. The last item is rather a surprise. You own a property called Gryffindor Castle."

"What, a castle? Are you sure, where is it?" Harry asked in surprise. This was all a bit too much for him to swallow.

"Yes, we are sure. We had to check the deeds carefully as it was a bit of a surprise. You see the castle is already occupied, its title deeds thought lost for generations. It was the ancestral home of Godric Gryffindor's family. It seems that all four of the founders had large castles, but Godric's was the largest, and that was the one the four of them decided to use. You have been to that castle many times Mr Potter, but today it goes by another name. Today it's known as Hogwarts. You own the school Mr Potter."

There was a stunned silence. Harry looked at Ginny totally speechless. Griphook watched the pair for a while before continuing.

"Off course you are well within your rights to ask the school to close and you may live in your castle, but I'm guessing that you are happy to let the school remain, yes?"

Harry nodded, finally managing to speak "Who knows about this?"

"Just myself and you two, as well as the castle itself. It seems that the castle is alive and will recognise its owners. "

Harry answered Griphook, "Of course I want the school to remain as it is. In fact I would like no one to know about this other than us three please."

"Of course Mr Potter, would you like to see your vaults now?"

"Yes, but before that, the Lestrange vault? I guess I own it because of the Black vault?"

"Yes that is correct Mr Potter."

After a brief silent conversation with Ginny, "In that case could you please search the vault for any items that contains Dark magic and destroy them. Could you then please transfer to Andromeda Tonks all remaining items and monies. I would also like five million to be transferred to the Weasley vault, and a further five million to be sent anonymously to St Mungos. I would like one million to be transferred to the Granger vault and I would also like to set up a trust fund for all children that have lost parents during the war. I would ask that Minerva McGonagall be responsible for the fund. Can we set the initial amount to 10 million. Could you also move all my remaining assets to the largest of my vaults so I only have the one please?"

"Off course, Mr Potter. It is done. As your assets (_#snigger#)_ are too large (_#snort, giggle#)_ for any of your current vaults, we have moved all your assets to one of the premium vaults. These are the largest we possess. You cannot access them unless you apparate there. Only the true holders can do this. I will have to take you the first time, but from then you can access your vault at any time without a staff member present. You may bring guests if you wish but they will not retain the memory of how to get access to the vault. Is that clear?"

"Yes Mr Griphook."

"If you would both hold my arm we will apparate to your vault."

They held one arm each and felt the familiar sensation of apperation. They suddenly found themselves in a large vaulted room. It was lit by flaming torches that lines the stone walls. No door was visible and the room was slightly cool. Both young people looked around the room with open mouths at the sight of so much gold. Unlike many vaults, most of the gold was moulded into small ingots rather than coins but even so there was a very large pile of the golden coins, more than Harry and Ginny could possible use.

"I shall remain here whilst you look around." Griphook stated.

As they wandered around the vault, they came across many items of jewellery and personal items. Eventually they came across a small table that contained a number of addressed envelopes and a small golden sphere that seemed to pulse slightly. One of the envelopes looked very old and was sealed with the Gryffindor seal. Harry slowly took the parchment and broke the seal and started to read.

_My Dearest Son_

_You stand here today as my sole remaining Heir, and with that knowledge comes_

_great power. You have inherited all my remaining monies and items as well as the _

_deeds to my castle. Know that the castle will recognise you as its true owners and_

_any wards placed upon it will not apply to you or your soul mate. For I know that_

_you do not stand her alone but with your one true love by your side and I salute you_

_both. Know this my Son, for you are my truest Son, I do love thee and I bless thee and_

_your union. _

_You will see on the table before you a small sphere. This is a knowledge sphere, what _

_you need to do is to hold the sphere in your right hand, and your mates in your left. _

_You and she will then gain the knowledge that both of you will need to fight_

_the oncoming evil._

_For I have seen a time when all good will be threatened and only the two of you stand between it and eternal damnation. _

_I wish thee well in your task and know_

_you will serve the powers of good and light with honour and bravery._

_Godric._

Harry passed the letter to Ginny who read it with widening eyes. They both looked at the sphere in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked

"Yes, I think we need to do this"

Harry took Ginny's hand in his left and after a moment's hesitation took hold of the golden sphere with his right hand. At first nothing seemed too happened, but then with feelings similar to when Voldemort invaded his mind, but without the pain, images and words appeared in his brain. Concepts and spells that neither had ever heard of before were suddenly there in their minds. After a short while the golden ball dulled to a white colour and suddenly cracked and disintegrated into dust.

Harry looked into Ginny's eyes. "Wow" was all he could think to say. Ginny smiled back at Harry and nodded in agreement. She looked deep into his eyes, with a lustful look in them and reached up and passionately kissed him. As she did they both felt something go click in their heads. Breathlessly they parted and both said together,

"It is done, what I know you know and what you know I know." As they spoke these words the knowledge that one possessed was shared by the other.

Ginny looked at Harry in awe, "Wow" she echoed his earlier comment, "That's one hell of a rush. It's a bit jumbled at the moment, but I'm not sure that school is going to be able to teach us much this year. I can remember things that I haven't even learnt yet. I even think I know how to become an Animagus, but I think it's even more than that. It's a bit confusing Harry."

"I know how you feel, but I'm sure with time it will become clearer."

"Harry, what about the other letter?"

Harry looked back at the small table to see the second letter waiting for him. He slowly opened the letter to find two small boxes and a short note. He looked at the boxes briefly, deciding the open them shortly and opened the note.

_My Dearest Harry_

_We are so glad that you have found your way to this vault and this letter_

_We are so very proud of the man you have become and that you have avenged_

_our deaths. Know that we are watching down on you and will love you forever._

_We also hope that you have by now found your one true soul mate and that she_

_is stood by you now. You will find in the small boxes my engagement ring and in the_

_other our wedding bands. I trust you will know the right time to use them. _

_My son you have to be strong for there is a great evil coming but with your soul mate _

_at your side and the knowledge and power you have, we both believe that you will _

_be victorious and will have the time to live and love. _

_With all our love, to both of you_

_Mum and Dad_

Harry stood with the tears rolling down his face as he read the letter. He wordlessly handed it to Ginny, and whilst she read he opened the two boxes. In one of them there were two simple gold bands, but in the other was his mother's engagement ring. I was a fairly simple design, with a slim gold band and a medium size diamond in the centre with a green emerald on one side and a red ruby on the other. Harry smiled at the two coloured stones, green meets red. He closed the box and pocketed both of them, glancing at Ginny as he did so. She had not seen the contents of the boxes and had only just finished reading the note. She looked over at him and hugged him.

"They really both loved you..us didn't they?"

"Yes love, they did. And I love you too."

"Can I have a look?" Ginny asked with a shy smile

"A look at what Miss Weasley?" Harry replied with a teasing voice.

"You know, the rings."

"In good time, come on we have to go, we've kept Griphook waiting long enough."

"Harry!" Ginny pouted.

Harry just laughed, and walked back to Griphook. As he walked across the massive vault, he spotted a familiar item lying on a desk. He walked over to the desk and took the beautiful sword of Gryffindor.

"I guess it was mine all the time" he mused to himself. The blade gleamed in the light and Harry KNEW that it was his. He looked around and found a beautiful leather sheath, and he slid the sword into the sheath with a metallic whisper. Silently he shrunk the sword and put the weapon in one of his pockets. He then turned and faced Griphook and Ginny. Griphook smiled at him and put his hand in his pocket and pulled out two small rectangular black pieces of plastic. One had Harry's name and a row of numbers embossed on it, and the other had Ginny's.

"What's this?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Well as we know that you also live in the Muggle world, we have put these together for our customers who live in both worlds. These are muggle credit cards. If you wish to buy anything in the muggle world then this will allow you to do so and the money will be taken from here automatically. Yours are special black cards, they are the only ones in existence. They have no limit on it and you can use them anywhere."

"That's great, Thanks" said Harry, pocketing the card and handing the other to Ginny who stared at it in amazement.

"Shall we go home Gin?"

She nodded, and Harry took her arm. He asked Griphook, "Are we allowed to apparate from here?"

"As I mentioned, only the two of you are allowed to apparate either in or out and now that you have been here the vault will recognise you the next time. I will leave you know." And with a small 'pop' he disappeared.

Harry smiled at Ginny, "Ready love?" She nodded back and Harry took her hand, but instead of apparating the normal way, Harry just instantly faded from view taking Ginny with him, without the usual noise of apperation.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten - Dark Deeds and Hogwarts.**

The evening sun was setting ending another intense day of heat in Egypt. Even as the darkness slowly took over from the light, the heat was still intense in the empty desert. Here, away from the tourist temples and car parks, nothing disturbed the slow movements of the increasing shadows as they raced towards there zenith. Unbeknown to the tourists and archaeologists just a few feet below the sands lay one of the most amazing undiscovered temples that the world had ever seen. This was the temple of Anubis, the god of the dead, and it had lain hidden for centuries, protected by an ancient magic. Even if one of the muggle archaeologists had walked across the area, he would have no compulsion to dig or to investigate the area. A small lizard stood on the sand absorbing the last of the days heat, its feet been lifted of the san occasionally to avoid burning the soft skin. Without any warning, there was a small disturbance in the air and with a small pop; a mad was stood in the desert. This was a strange looking man, dressed in black robes and had the air of evil around him. Although the lizard was not capable of the distinguishing between good and evil, its animal senses were attuned to anything that could be considered a threat and this man was a definite threat. It scuttled away and buried itself in the warm desert sand.

Lucius looked around the featureless desert and smiled to himself. He had spent days trying to decipher the tablets he had acquired at the muggle museum, and now he was sure that he had found the correct location. As he stood, he slowly took out his wand and prepared himself. He took a deep breath and tried to remember the incantation he had learnt from the stone tablets. To a muggle archaeologist, the words were meaningless without the possession of the other ancient artefacts that Lucius owned, and the language needed to speak the words had been thought lost for eons. Lucuis had been painstaking in his studies and through a little known charm had taught himself to speak the language of the ancients. He held his wand aloft and slowly spoke the words in a tongue thought lost to the world. As he finished the last of the incantation, the desert slowly started to move as millions of tons of sand slowly began to displace itself. In the fading light, a massive stone temple began to slowly rise from the choking sands. The temple appeared to be untouched by the passage of time, and as it rose, the world's archaeologists would have been astonished by the dark beauty of the building. The front was comprised of a large closed double set of stone doors, with large pillars on each side. Rows of jackal headed statures lined the front and in front of each statue were smaller ones depicting the ancient worshipers all prostrated in front of their god. Finally the temple was fully exposed to the world, and Lucius looked in delight at the sight. He walked slowly towards the main doors and stood in front of them with his arms outstretched. He once more spoke the language of the ancients and with a gesture of his wand, the two stone doors slowly parted and opened. A large blast of stale air flew from the gap as the pressure equalised, but eventually the inners of the dark temple lay exposed to the dying light. Lucuis slowly lowered his arms and entered the building. As he entered the dark interior, flaming torches magically lit on the walls, illumination the large room. This was a mostly empty, airy room with one massive statue of Anubis, stood looking over the, now long departed worshippers. Lucuis walked slowly to the base of the statue and looked for a long time at the massive plinth. After a while, he found the correct hieroglyph and took out his wand and traced the cartouche that spelt the name of the god. There was an audible click and a hidden panel opened in the plinth. Lucius bent down and retrieved the first of the two items he found there. The first was a metal bound black book, held closed by an elaborate locking mechanism. Unfortunately for Lucius, the key had been lost for decades and no amount of searching had brought any clues to its whereabouts. Unfortunately for the book, this small stumbling block was no problem for a dark wizard like Lucius, and he pointed his wand at the book and whispered.

"Alohomora". With a audible click, the book snapped open and Lucius shouted in triumph. Printed on the metal pages was the first, original Book of the Dead. He closed the book for the moment, and bent down to examine the second item. This appeared to be a shiny black sword made for an almost unbreakable type of obsidian. As Lucius retrieved the weapon, he glowed a deep purple colour, and for a brief moment, his head changed shape to that of a black jackal before returning to normal. Lucius felt incredibly powerful and as the change flowed through his body he realised that he was now a disciple of Anubis. This was going to be so easy, and he would make the Potter boy suffer tenfold for all the defeats he and the Dark Lord had suffered. Without a look back at the temple, Lucius with the book in one arm and the Sword of Anubis in the other, apparated away, back to his lair.

A few moments after his disappearance, the torches spluttered and died plunging the interior of the temple into darkness. With a sigh, the temple slowly began to sink back into the sands, and within minutes the desert looked as it always did. The small lizard dug itself out from its nest and surveyed the empty desert with satisfaction. All was back as it should be, and so it went out the hunt for its evening meal before the cold of the night forced it to sleep.

Harry awoke to find himself entangled in a mixture of arms and legs of the beautiful red-head laid with him. She had her head on his chest, with her mane of hair spread over her naked back. He remembered feeling incredibly shy, when she had emerged from the bathroom the evening before wearing only her knickers under the robe. She had a challenging but smouldering look in her eye as he stripped down to his boxers. They had kissed and cuddled for a short while, before sleep overtook them, avoiding any further strain on the promise they had made to her parents. As Harry lay there is the morning light, he could feel the press of Ginny's breasts on his stomach, and his body responded the only way a teenagers body could. He could feel himself pressing on her legs, and was slightly embarrassed about the whole thing. He was glad that she was asleep and wasn't aware of his predicament, when he heard a giggle in his head.

_#Sorry Lord Gryffindor, already awake, and I think it's nice that I have that effect on you; God knows you have a similar effect on me#_

As she thought this to Harry, her head came up and her eyes met his. Harry was quite surprised to see what could only be described as a predatory look in them, as she launched herself at him. Her lips fastening themselves to his, as her tongue sought access. Harry gladly yielded to her demands and as they explored each other's mouths, his hands gently cupped her breasts. He felt her gasp at the touch and start to moan within his mouth. He slowly broke the kiss and moved down to kiss her neck and nibble as her ears. Ginny seemed to like this judging by the noises she was making and taking this to be a good sign, he slowly lowed his lips to her chest, gently kissing the warm flesh he found there. Ginny's back arched with pleasure at his kisses and her hands had slowly made their way down to the hem of his boxers. She slowly pushed her way past the hemline and she gently held and caressed him, Harry had never felt anything like it and intensified his kiss, making them both moan in pleasure. Ginny felt that she was on fire, with feelings she had never felt before. Harry eventually stopped the kisses he was administering and raised his head and looked deep into her eyes. Ginny could only see love and desire there.

"Make love to me Harry", Ginny whispered. Harry looked surprised and a little nervous at the thought.

"Are you sure, what about our promise?"

"I don't care about the promise, I only care about you."

Harry smiled back at her and lowered himself to kiss her once more. The intensity of the embrace increased as Harry's hand gently moved to her stomach and then slowly moved further down to the top of her knickers. He was about to move further south when the moment was broken by an ear-piercing scream from the kitchen. Instantly the pair were up and with a thought they both suddenly were fully dressed with their wands drawn. Silently they both apparated to the kitchen to face whatever challenge they found.

As they appeared they were greeted by the sight of Molly Weasley stood with a parchment in her hand with a wild and startled look in her eye. As she saw the two pointing wands at her, she screamed once more, this time in fright. They had made no noise as they appeared and the wands had moved to face here in the blink of an eye. It was frightening how her daughter and her near son-in-law were so in time with each other. As soon as the pair had ascertained that there was no threat in the room, they both instantly apparated around the building and the grounds to check for intruders, before arriving back to the kitchen with slightly puzzled looks on their faces. By this time Mr Weasley, Ron and Hermione had arrived breathlessly at the sounds of the screams. Molly was still stood with the parchment shaking in her hands.

"What's matter Molly?" Mr Weasley asked in a concerned voice.

"B-b-b-bank s-s-s-s-statment..." Molly stuttered and waved the offending parchment around.

Ginny smiled, realised the source of her mother's scream.

_#Uh-oh, I think I know what this is about. Be prepared for some serious hugs from my mum Harry.#_

Arthur had finally managed to get the statement from his wife and was reading when he suddenly went very white and sat on a chair with a thump. He dropped the parchment and put his head in his hands.

"Will someone please tell me what the bloody hell is going on?" Ron shouted, now getting worried about the behaviour of his two parents.

"Here, you read it." Arthur offered the now crumpled piece of parchment to his youngest son.

Ron took the letter and read,

"Dear Mr and Mrs Weasley. This is your current Gringotts balance as of the 15 May 1998. Your balance currently stands as ..." his voice trailed away, his eyes bulging. "Five million, one thousand and seventy three Galleons!"

Ron was shocked and silent for a long while before he finally whispered. "How? Why? When?"

All eyes in the room moved to Harry and Ginny, who were stood by the back door, wands now put away and holding hands. Ginny was smiling broadly at her family.

Harry cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Err surprise!" he said weakly.

Mrs Weasley looked at him for a moment before running across the kitchen and catching him is a fierce embrace. "Oh you dear boy, you know we cannot accept this."

"Why not, as Ginny and I discovered yesterday, we have more than we could possibly need in our lifetime. You guys are my only family and its right that we all share in the good fortune."

Molly thought about this for a while as the tears slowly fell from her face before she asked, "We?"

"I beg your pardon?" Harry asked, confused.

"You said that '**we** have more than we could possibly need'. Surly you mean 'you'?"

"Well according to the goblins, because Ginny and I have soul bonded, then she is my wife as far as they are concerned and she has joint ownership of everything I own. I mean she was always going to anyway, but this is just a bit quicker."

"H-h-how much?" Molly asked

"A lot mum, and more" Ginny whispered.

By now Mr Weasley was hugging Ginny and clasping Harry's free arm.

"You're a good man Harry. Thank you."

Harry blushed at the older man's compliments. After a while he managed to disentangle himself from the still sobbing Molly, and take a seat next to Ginny. Ron walked over to Harry, and sat next to him.

"Thanks mate. You have no idea what this means to them. You've done it now, you can never get away from them, they will love you forever."

Ginny smirked at her brother whilst Hermione looked pleased with Ron. Harry blushed once more and mumbled. "You're welcome."

Molly sniffed a few more times before managing to compose herself and make breakfast. The conversation turned to the days plans.

Harry told Molly and Arthur that they all had to go to the ministry to sort out there apparition licences, and book Ginny in for a course.

"Afterwards Hermione and I are going shopping for our trip to Australia. The goblins gave me a magical credit card, and I'm eager to see how it works." Ginny happily announced. Hermione looked slightly surprised at this. "Oh and Hermione, it's our treat." Ginny told her.

Ron told everyone that he was going to the shop today with George who had decided that it was time to get 'back in the saddle' as he put it. Ron wanted to go along to make sure that George was going to be okay.

"Harry, what are your plans for the day? Fancy a shopping trip with the girls?" Molly asked with a smile.

Harry almost shuddered at the thought. "No way!" earning a thump from Ginny, even though she was smiling at him, "No, I've got a meeting with Professor McGonagall this morning, and then I need to do some shopping of my own. I also need to sort out my driving licence."

As they finished their breakfast they all got ready to floo to the ministry. Arthur accompanied them, and when they arrived this time the atrium was almost deserted. They were led very quickly to the testing room where they were met by an old wizard who was to perform the test. They were taken to a large empty room with a few crosses marked on the ground. Ron was asked to go first, and wary of his past experience he was suitably nervous. However as he was asked to follow the instructor around the room, moving from cross to cross, he had no problems, apparating with the usual turn and loud pop. The instructor then asked Ron to apparated to Hogsmeade and back, which he did with no problems and he was passed with flying colours. Hermione also passed (no surprise) without any problems. Harry was asked to go next, he was told by the instructor to apparate to the furthest cross in the room. Harry didn't even look at the cross, and without turning or making any noise, he just vanished from where he stood and apparated on the requested cross. The instructor stared at Harry is awe. He then asked him to apparate to Hogsmeade, which again Harry did silently and without turning. When he and the instructor arrived back the old wizard, with shaking hands, handed Harry his licence. He then swallowed and tuned to Ginny.

"Now then young lady, I understand you need some instructions."

Ginny merely smiled at the elderly mage, and just as Harry did, silently vanished from her place, and appeared on one of the crosses. She then quickly started to vanish from cross to cross, all the while smiling at the old man. She then vanished and when she re-appeared, she was holding a bottle of butter beer from Hogsmeade that she handed to her 'instructor'

_#Quit showing off Love# _Harry thought with a mental grin.

This time, not only was the instructor gawping at Ginny, but so were Ron and Hermione.

"How? When? Erm Gin?" Ron stuttered.

"Erudite as ever brother dear, it's very simple, what Harry can do, I can do and vice versa."

Ten minutes later, they were all leaving the testing facility, licences all passed. Harry and Ginny had been given 'master' grades, the highest that could be given. As they walked to the atrium, Harry kissed Ginny as she and Hermione went on their shopping trip. Ron went with them as he was going to Diagon alley to meet George at the shop. Harry walked to the main desk to ask where he needed to go to get information about Muggle driving. He was directed to a strange room with an old car sat in the middle. A middle age man with grey curly hair was sat reading an old motoring magazine, who jumped up when he saw Harry.

"Good morning young man, my name is Jeremy how may I help you?"

"Hi I'm Harry. I was told you could teach me to drive a Muggle car here."

"Yes off course, it's a simple process. I'll just give you this memory ball and then we'll take her for a spin. It normally takes a couple of lessons but we'll have you passed in no time."

Harry held the memory ball and shuddered as the information was 'downloaded' into his brain. The whole process took seconds, and Harry was soon behind the wheel of the old car. Due to his Gryffindor heritage however he was an exceptionally quick learner and within an hour was leaving with a brand new driving licence. He walked out of the Muggle car testing facility and walked to a nearby empty corridor. With a look around to see if there were any witnesses, he apparated to the main gates of Hogwarts.

With a small pop he arrived and looked at the old castle. He was saddened to see many holes still in the walls of the old school. The gates were locked but as soon as Harry got close to them, he raised his hand and they opened with a gently clang. As soon as Harry crossed the threshold, he gasped in pain, and was forced to his knees. He could feel the agony of the school due to the damage done to it. So much pain and suffering, Hogwarts could feel the death of every child that died her and she was suffering. Harry could not only feel the physical damage to the wall, but every dark curse fired here caused a deep pain to the schools 'soul'. He realised that even though the buildings could be repaired, unless something was done soon, Hogwarts herself would die.

He staggered to his feet, and quickly apparated to the main entrance way. With a pop he arrived, and was aware that he was been watched. Alerted to the opening of the main gates, both Mr Filch and Professor McGonagall had started to walk down to the gate to see who had breached the locks. They were staggered when Harry apparated in front of them, but rather than speaking he was mumbling incoherently as he staggered to the main wall of the school.

"Mr Potter, how did you do that...what are you doing...Mr Potter? Argus, go get Poppy..NOW!"

Harry had managed to walk to the walls of the castle, and gently placed his palms against the rough stonework. He closed his eyes and tried to block the pain he was feeling. He could sense Ginny was also feeling the pain and with a pop, she was suddenly next to him, her palms also on the wall of the school.

_#Harry, what's the matter with her? I was shopping with Hermione and suddenly I felt pain like I'd never experienced. I just had to come to you.#_

_#It's the school, she's dying. We need to help her#_

_#How?#_

_#Take my hand, and think of helping her, I think I know what to do#_

He felt Ginny take his hand and once more he closed his eyes. He concentrated on healing the school, and with a gasp he felt his power grow enormously. His hand got very hot, as it began to glow.

Professor McGonagall was now joined by Poppy and Filch, as they watched in fascination at the couple in front of them. They were both glowing brightly and as they watched they could see the castle start to heal. Holes in the walls suddenly were whole again. Burnt areas looked clean and fresh; all signs of blood and death vanished. The castle became alive again, the feeling of happiness that normally filled the halls returned after a long absence.

Suddenly the glow faded from the pair. They stood back from the walls, and faced each other. With a smile they embraced and then with no warning they both collapsed to the floor. Poppy moved quickly to the pair, but as she got there she could see that they had already woken up.

"Are you two okay?"

"Yes, I think so. That was rather tiring. It just caught us by surprise a little."

"What did you both do?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"Hogwarts was dying. Sure you were mending the wall and such but the school was still dying. We helped her recover. She will be well again now."

Professor McGonagall was astonished at this statement. How could these two heal the school? She had been aware that the school was dying. As headmistress she could feel the school and had been feeling the pain of the building for a few days now. She had tried to help, but it was way beyond her skill level. As she looked at the pair, who judging from the amount of magic repairing the school would have taken should be unconscious for days, recover in a matter of minutes; she found herself thinking what had happened to the pair that allowed them so much power.

Ginny finally stood and helped Harry up.

"Well, I'd better get back, I left Hermione holding all the shopping and she will be worried. I'll see you tonight?"

"Sure love, thanks for the help" and he kissed her gently. With a smile and a wave at the headmistress, Ginny apparated silently away to the collected astonishment of the adults watching.

"How did she do that Minerva?" Poppy asked, "Are the wards down?"

"No, but then this is Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley we are talking about. It seems that the normal rules do not apply."

"Could you do that? Apparate in Hogwarts I mean."

"No, neither could Albus, not without modifying the wards first."

Harry watched the exchange with interest. However he soon felt the pair turn to look at him.

"Professor McGonagall, you wanted to see me?"

Minerva looked at the young man, aware that she wasn't going to get much of an explanation stood her in the main entrance. "Off Course Mr Potter, if you would like to follow me."

They walked in silence until they got to the headmistress's room. Harry sat in his 'usual' chair whilst the headmistress moved to hers. Harry looked around the room with interest. Gone were the contraptions that Dumbledore had on the desk, but the room looked more or less the same as before apart from a large tartan hung on one of the walls. He spotted the portrait of Dumbledore who briefly opened his eyes and winked at Harry before feigning sleep once more.

"Are you going to tell me how you and Miss Weasley managed to cure the school and how you are both able to apparate within the boundaries of the school Mr Potter?"

Harry looked at his headmistress unsure on how to answer the question. Should he tell the truth or come up with an elaborate lie?

_#Tell the truth Harry, she deserves to know and she has always stood by us.#_

_#Are you sure?#_

_#Yes, tell her#_

Professor McGonagall was watching Harry with a questioning look in her eyes. He was obviously holding an internal conversation, but it looked more than just an internal dialog. If she didn't know better she was sure he was holding a conversation with... no?

"Mister Potter, were you talking to Ginny just then telepathically?"

"Erm yes Maam, we have been able to so since the soul bond."

"Merlin! Do you both know how rare that is?"

"It has been mentioned yes."

The headmistress smiled, "By Miss Grainger no doubt. Now would you care to enlighten me?"

"Well, I knew that the castle was dying, and I had to do something to cure it, so I did."

"Not very informative Mr Potter, how did you know the castle was dying?"

Harry shuffled uncomfortably in his chair. He sighed and looked at the headmistress.

"Ok, I knew because many years ago this castle was called Castle Gryffindor. Godric and the other three founders used it to form the school. I know this because according to the Goblins, I am Godric's heir and I own Hogwarts, but don't worry I don't want to have anything change about the school. I'd rather people not know about it but that's why I can apparate here, the castle knows me and allows me to. Due to our soul bond, it recognises Ginny as well."

He looked up and saw the headmistress mouth hanging open. She was trying to talk but she seemed to have lost the ability to talk. Finally she pulled herself together.

"You own the school?"

Harry nodded.

"And you are the direct descendant of Gryffindor?"

"Mmhuh"

"So that would make you and Ginny, Lord and Lady Gryffindor?"

Harry started to go red at this. "Yes but please don't call us that, Harry and Ginny is fine."

"Okay Harry, any more surprises for me?"

"Er no, don't think so. What did you wish to see me about?"

Professor McGonagall took a deep breath and decided to leave the subject and more on to more mundane matters.

"Mr Potter, I understand that you may be thinking of repeating your seventh year?"

"Yes Maam, Hermione has already decided and what with Ginny coming for year seven, I figured that it would be nice to come back for one year without the worry of Voldemort hanging over me."

"Well that's good; we have decided that any returning pupils that missed out on their seventh year would have the status of adults. They would not have to stay at the weekend if they don't want to and you will all be living in the guest accommodation wing. You will all have a room to yourselves and a common room for all. There will be no house distinction."

"Could Ginny stay with me?"

"I am aware of your unique circumstances and I have spoken to Molly about your current sleeping arrangements, but as you are aware Miss Weasley is only sixteen and will be in her true seventh years next year. I cannot allow you to sleep with her as things stand."

Harry looked disappointed but before he could speak, he was aware of the school trying to tell him something. Suddenly the knowledge of the Gryffindor's private rooms appeared in his mind.

"Don't worry Professor, I will stay in Gryffindor's private quarters, Hogwarts has just alerted me to their existence, and I invoke owner privilege in this one and only matter."

"Mr Potter! I cannot allow this; it is unseemly for an eighteen year old boy to be sleeping with a seventeen year old girl as you would be next year."

"I guess than this concludes our business. Miss Weasley will not be coming back either, she has just told me as much."

He stood up to leave, but before he could get out of the door, he was aware of Hogwarts communication once more, but this time is was with the headmistress and not himself. Professor McGonagall had gone pale. This was the first time the school had directly spoken to her and she was shocked by what it had told her.

"Mr Potter! Wait! I've been told that as owner of the school you are allowed to do as you wish, and it appears that Hogwarts wants you to stay for the year. Although I'm not entirely happy about the situation I would like it if you would reconsider and come back to us for your final year. I only ask that you and Miss Weasley are discrete about your living arrangements."

"I guess we can do that, in that case see you in September." And with a smile he apparated away, directly from her office. The headmistress shook her head. "That boy will be the death of me one day."

Harry meanwhile had apparated to Diagon Alley, and spent the rest of the afternoon, buying new cloths for himself. He then walked to Muggle London and bought a load of muggle cloths suitable for everyday use and also for their trip to Australia. He ended the day with a trip to a Muggle travel agent where he bought four first class tickets to Melbourne, along with car hire and a nice hotel near Geelong. He then walked back to Diagon alley before apparating back to the Burrow to wait for Ginny to come home with Hermione.


End file.
